A group of senior directors from Severstal, Russia's largest steel company, are the first official visitors to City Campus East, soon to be the new £70 million state-of-the-art home of Newcastle Business School (NBS).
Severstal Group Vice-President of HR, Mr Andrey Mityukov visited the new university complex, which will be officially opened in September, with colleagues as part of a three day visit organised by Paul Banfield, Programme Director of the bespoke MBA scheme - designed by NBS solely for Severstal personnel.
The recent trip to the North East was aimed at capitalising on NBS's expertise to develop Severstal's HR strategy and incorporated workshops involving directors at both Rolls Royce and Diageo.
Paul Banfield explains:
"The purpose of the visit was for us to help Severstal redefine its HR strategy in light of their new learning and development training strategy recently developed by the company.
NBS has worked with Severstal for many years and we are continually assessing the organisation's staff training and development needs, especially as the business becomes increasingly international.
The key issues addressed during the visit included an overview of the key strategies, models and concepts for HR and how the company can engage in effective talent and leadership management."
On site at City Campus East (L-R) - Dmitry Afanasiev (Severstal), Paul Croney, Dean of NBS and Andrey Mityukov (Severstal )
The Newcastle Business School/Severstal relationship began more than six years ago when Alexey Mordashov, now owner of Severstal arrived in the North East with four colleagues to undertake The Newcastle Business School MBA programme. So impressed with his learning experience, Mordashov has since arranged for more than 150 of his executives and directors to undertake The Newcastle Business School MBA.
Initial contact was made through the partnership NBS enjoys with Moscow's State University of Management and now a steady stream of executives from Severstal - which literally means Northern Steel - have been arriving in the North East to learn how Western business is done.
Professor Paul Croney, Dean of NBS commented:
"The three day visit has proven invaluable in helping to develop its HR strategy and Newcastle Business School will be playing a crucial role by offering bespoke management development for their staff. We are very proud to showcase our new business school at City Campus East to Severstal, which has been a client of ours for many years.
Partnerships such as this have helped showcase Newcastle Business School as one of the UK's most successful and relevant business schools, which enjoys an outstanding reputation across the globe. "
Date posted: 12.06.2007