Can the Leeds connection help Marks & Spencer become the UK Business Champion of 2015?
The University's strategic partner, Marks & Spencer, is competing to be named the overall UK Business Champion of 2015.
For the past three years the University’s strategic partnership with leading retailer M&S, has gone from strength to strength, offering real world opportunities to bring higher education and industry together through a series of collaborative projects.
Through this distinctive partnership we have been able to progress shared strategic priorities, for example:
- supporting students to develop their skills and careers prospects through placements, internships and mentoring
- secured significant research funding for joint projects across a range of academic Schools with the opportunity to demonstrate the impact of our research in a challenging external environment
- the partnership has also enabled us to share best practice and learn from one another at all levels of our respective organisations
We recently held our fourth M&S ‘Shwop at Work’ event, collecting a total of almost 7,000 items of used clothing to donate to Oxfam to re-use or recycle, and putting Leeds top of the national shwopping leader board. This is just one practical example of how the partnership can help us to achieve more together, as both M&S and the University have deep-rooted commitments to community engagement and embedding sustainability into day-to-day operations. M&S’ ‘Plan A’ strategy aims to make the company the world’s most sustainable major retailer, and the company’s efforts in this field have already been recognised by winning the National Business Champion award for Environmental and Corporate Sustainability.
Now through to the public voting stage, M&S is competing to be named the overall UK Business Champion of 2015, against all of the other UK category winners (inc. Admiral, Channel Four, DHL, Expedia). If successful M&S will represent the UK in competing to be named the overall European Business Champion of 2015.
Please help M&S to reach the European finals by voting for them to be the UK Business Champion of 2015.