Twelve managers from Showsec put on gowns and mortarboards for a graduation ceremony at Derby Arena.
Eleven of those became the company’s first employees to receive the new Bachelor of Arts Degree in Applied Professional Studies in Crowd Management. The other became the latest to be awarded a Foundation Degree in the same subject.
The Leicester-based event and crowd security management contractor points to the BA degrees as a result of investment and a partnership formed with the University of Derby’s Business Centre.
Mark Harding, Showsec’s Managing Director is pictured centre left. He said: “Personal development is a fundamental part of our commitment to driving the business forwards and raising standards, so this is a fantastic achievement by all of the graduates and an especially proud moment for the company.
“This elevates the strength of our operational team to a new level, while also helping to set a new benchmark in terms of the standards we are aiming to achieve across the industry. All of the graduates are to be commended for their dedication and professionalism because combining these studies with an extremely busy workload is quite a commitment. An important product of this success is, of course, that our clients benefit from the services of highly-skilled professionals who can provide even stronger operational leadership.
“We are constantly exploring ways to remain a market-leader in terms of career opportunities and personal development and the company makes a substantial investment, not only from a financial point of view, but also support from other individuals in the business.”
Showsec add that they have worked with Derby’s Business Centre to create a Training and Development Programme that gives individuals a career pathway. Many of those who had gained the Foundation Degree two years ago have now progressed to that specifically-designed BA course.
Keith Hackett is Showsec’s Learning and Development Manager, pictured centre right. He said: “The partnership we have developed with the University of Derby’s Business Centre and the tremendous support we have received from them has been crucial to the advancement of this programme. Both the BA and Foundation courses incorporate a significant amount of real-time operational learning experiences to enable our managers to combine this with their workload.
“The courses also include innovative processes, such as thought provoking classroom sessions which challenge current security and crowd management procedures, while another element involves input from a number of industry experts who are at the cutting edge of progression.”
The BA was a 12-month course taken by Regional Managers Richard Church and Alan Wallace, with Area Managers Craig Bennett, Joe Milner, Tom Bailey, Sam Hodkin, Ieuan Fury, Martin Lewis, Louise Senior, Dayo Adelugba and Tracey McCarthy.
In the case of the Foundation Degree, Michael Asimonye, Showsec’s Operations Executive in London, went on to gain this qualification over a two–year period; the first part was the company’s Management Development Programme.
The Showsec graduates were joined at Derby by Steve Reynolds, former Regional Manager for the South, who also completed the BA course while with the company.
