Find out how Nottingham Trent University can help your business to grow and develop.

1. working with you...
Talent, skills and innovation
Business Services at Nottingham Trent University

3. Discover more ways to benefit your business
Welcome to one of the UK’s leading commercially focused universities. You might
already be familiar with Nottingham Trent University in some way, but you may not
know how we can help take your organisation to the next level.
Whether you are looking for talented new people, want to
develop your current staff or benefit from the latest
research, our services are cost-effective, easy to access and
come with support from our dedicated team.
We are proud to team up with organisations large and
small, including well known names such as Boots, Rolls
Royce, Barclays, Experian, Faithful+Gould and Pork Farms.
We’ve helped many small and medium businesses through
specific programmes designed to help them to grow and
develop. Over £5 million of NTU and European Regional
Development (ERDF) funding over the past two years has
enabled us to offer subsidised placements, consultancy and
free workshops and events.
In this brochure you can find out more about accessing
talent, developing skills and support for innovation.
Don’t forget, you can also contact our team at any time:
Business Services
Tel: +44 (0)115 848 8899
Email: workingwithyou@ntu.ac.uk
www.ntu.ac.uk/business

4. talent

5. Ways to get NTU talent into your organisation…
• Graduate recruitment: fixed-term or permanent employees.
• Student placements: from a few weeks up to 12 months. Placements are an excellent way to benefit from fixed-term support or can be used
as extended ‘interviews’.
• Internships: these fixed-term placements for students and graduates are ideal for accessing specialist talent for a specific piece of work or
project.
• Academic-led project: our students work with one of our academic experts to help solve a particular business challenge. Recent projects have
ranged from enhancing companies social media marketing activity to help with the re-formulation and taste-testing of new coffee flavours.
NTU has more than 26,000 students – with over 8,000 graduating every
year – who are developing the latest skills and knowledge in a diverse
range of fields. We have a strong national and international reputation
for producing graduates who are full of ambition and have the practical
skills employers desire.
So how can you make sure you access the right people, whether you are
looking for full-time employees or placement students? Our specialist
team will work closely with you to understand your needs, carefully
matching them with students on relevant courses, ensuring the perfect
fit. They can also give you direct access to our talent pool via our online
vacancy system and through recruitment fairs.
The future of any organisation depends on the ability to recruit skilled, talented and ambitious
people. We make recruitment easy and cost-effective by giving you a pipeline to work-ready
students and graduates.
access skilled, work-ready students and graduates

6. working with… Acorn Conceptual Textiles
Established in 1996, Acorn Conceptual Textiles is a small yet very
successful textile studio based in Nottingham. Working in the
fast-paced world of fashion, they need a constant stream of fresh
ideas and cutting-edge knowledge. After trying other universities,
the company turned to NTU to offer year-long placements to
students.
With its highly reputable knitwear course, the University proved an
attractive option for student talent. For more than a decade now,
Acorn has taken on two or three students a year on 12-month
placements. The students are able to develop their practical and
commercial skills, while bringing new ideas to the firm’s projects.
They also get the chance to meet clients and even travel to
international trade shows.
Acorn works closely with the course at NTU. Designers come to
present their company and issue design challenges. Those who
are interested in a placement are carefully assessed for their
suitability. Some students go on to full-time employment with
the company.
“Working with NTU over the past decade has been great for us. We’ve proven that you
don’t have to be a big company to offer placements – there’s been a clear benefit to us and
the students. It’s definitely a worthwhile venture.”
Rob Weldon, Director, Acorn Conceptual Textiles
Benefits and outcomes
• Acorn benefits from working with some of the UK’s best
students with innovative ideas and contemporary skills.
• The company helps to develop the next generation of talented
designers.
• Year-long placements give the students chance to settle in and
for Acorn to better assess their potential for graduate positions.
• Students have gone onto employment all over the world,
creating a vital global network that has opened up new business
opportunities.

8. skills

9. develop your people through bespoke training
Short courses
Our portfolio of short courses are a flexible way to build skills
development around a career and other commitments. Many of
our courses are targeted at continuing professional development
for specific industries and sectors. We can also create bespoke
short training courses for your organisation.
Short courses are ideal for people who want to:
• develop knowledge in a particular discipline;
• refresh their knowledge;
• review their career; and
• develop specialist skills to support other studies.
At NTU, we are renowned for creating flexible, tailored, vocationally
focused courses for a wide range of industries and professions. We will
work closely with you to understand your needs and team you with
academics who are experts in your sector and who have a proven track
record of success.
We work with organisations across the world to provide:
• in-company training;
• professional or practice-based career development;
• bespoke undergraduate, postgraduate or professional qualifications;
• coaching;
• short courses;
• workshops and conferences;
• accreditation for your current in-house training; and
• executive-level development.
By investing in your employees’ skills and career development, you can help to improve
productivity, encourage innovative thinking and bolster retention.

10. working with… TDX Group
TDX Group specialises in data, technology and advice to help
companies recover debt. Their director of HR wanted to ensure
her talented yet relatively inexperienced team had the skills and
knowledge to increase their capability and develop professionally.
Three of the team have joined our Certificate in HR Practice
course, which is governed by the Chartered Institute of Personnel
& Development (CIPD), with one employee also completing the
diploma.
The certificate course is delivered flexibly over two days a month
for nine months and brings together individuals from
organisations all over the world. It is highly practical and helps
students understand the models and latest thinking that
underpin HR and its function within an organisation’s strategy.
“What I’ve found about NTU and the Business
School is that they totally understand commercial
clients, making sure their courses and
qualifications really help and add value. They fully
engage with the business community to give us
what we need. That’s a real differentiator.”
HR Director, TDX Group
Benefits and outcomes
• Gives HR practitioners the core skills and theoretical knowledge
to better understand HR and ‘talk the language of business’ with
their managers.
• The course is governed by the CIPD, giving students a
professionally recognised qualification.
• Students learn from experienced tutors with HR backgrounds
• They also benefit from learning alongside individuals from
different types of organisations.
• Students use practical examples from their own workplace.

12. innovation

13. research, consultancy and funding to drive your business
Solving challenges through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs)
What challenges would you love to address in your organisation? Whether it’s better products processes or systems, many companies simply
don’t have the time, money or resources to address these fundamental issues.
Government-funded KTPs are designed to help UK organisations of all sizes by introducing a skilled graduate (supported by an NTU academic
expert) into your company who has the specific skills to address a particular issue. Get in touch with our Business Services team to find out more.
We can help you with specially designed projects, providing a cost-
efficient way for businesses and public sector organisations to access
cutting-edge research and development, as well as advanced technology
and technical facilities.
We can also help you access funding so support innovation. Of course,
innovation is not limited to technology. We can help you develop
innovative products or designs, commercialise your ideas, discover new
ways of working, or rethink the services you offer your customers.
Our research is globally recognised for its academic rigour and practical relevance. We help
organisations of all sizes develop products and ways of working that boost profitability, efficiency
and innovation.

14. working with… ESP Technology
NTU’s Innovations in Surfaces, Materials and Related Technology
(iSMART) uses our academic expertise to work with small and medium
biomedical companies to help them develop the cutting-edge materials
and devices of the future.
ESP Technology is a small firm which aims to improve kidney dialysis
treatment through special self-sealing vascular grafts. The material it
has developed has a wide range of innovative healthcare and industrial
applications.
The company’s initial focus has been to create a special self-sealing
graft for patients who need dialysis. Whereas traditional needles leave a
hole in the arm, which can lead to serious complications, this innovative
material halts bleeding quickly and reduces the need for compression
(which can lead to thrombosis).
A study identified that for the product to become successful it needed to
also be antimicrobial to prevent infections, such as MRSA. ESP doesn’t
have antimicrobial testing facilities, so it teamed up with iSMART.
Together we were able to produce and test different antimicrobial
materials to find the optimum one that could be combined with the
self-sealing graft.
“We chose to work with NTU because of the
team’s expertise across a broad range of subject
areas. We were impressed by the growing
community of biomedical and science businesses
in Nottingham and have already taken steps to
expand our footprint.”
Ruth Burns, CEO, ESP Technology
Benefits and outcomes
• ESP was able to develop its novel products by tapping into
world-class expertise.
• The R&D was paid for by University and European funding,
saving the company money.
• iSMART helped ESP win an Innovate UK grant to help bring
products to market.
• The products will benefit patients in terms of safety and time.
• The technology has many other healthcare and industrial
applications.
• The global haemodialysis market is worth £150m a year.

17. • We have worked with over 6,000 companies in the private, public and third sectors, on a national
and international level.
• Through our current ERDF funded programmes we have engaged with over 1,000 small and medium
organisations.
• We have a proud heritage of offering vocationally driven courses since 1843. Around 150 of our
programmes are formally accredited or recognised by a professional, statutory or regulatory body.*
• We are sixth among UK universities for the number of students taking year-long work placements.
(HESA 2012-13).
• In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF2014), 55% of our research was internationally
recognised.
• We are among the top 25% of UK universities for investment in facilities, many of which are
available to business.
• We have strong relationships with business organisations in the East Midlands. We are patrons of
the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce and work closely with the IoD, whose regional offices are
at NTU, the CBI and Federation of Small Businesses.
A rich heritage and track record of success
*This includes fully accredited, recognised and listed courses.

18. Talk to our friendly, dedicated Business Services team today,
and we’ll help you get the best out of our talent, expertise,
research and facilities.
Tel: +44 (0)115 848 8899
Email: workingwithyou@ntu.ac.uk
www.ntu.ac.uk/business
Ready to support your organisation

20. Please note that whilst the University has taken all reasonable steps to ensure the accuracy of the content within this publication at the time of
printing, the University reserves the right to remove, vary or amend the content of the publication at any time. For avoidance of doubt, the
information provided within the content of this publication is for guidance purposes.
© Nottingham Trent University and may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the prior written consent of
Nottingham Trent University.
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