IMAGINE anniversary: the future World of Work

Friday, 08 June 2018

What does the future workplace look like? Donors and alumni help students adapt for the changing workplace.

Jean-Pierre Choulet, Director of Alumni & Development at Henley Business School explains how IMAGINE funding and activity contributes to innovative student development programmes. 

Our aim is to be recognised as an institution where business comes to life. This is our campaign goal, and we achieve this in part through programmes like the World of Work. 

The programme benefits directly from the IMAGINE campaign. Our donors ensure we can continue to develop the strength of our research and knowledge while contributing to the programme and furthering the debates that feature within it. 

By bringing industry contacts, expert speakers and our incredible faculty together for a wide audience of alumni, friends, staff and supporters, we can equip our community to adapt to and deliver what is needed in the workplaces of the future.  

At our core is an approach that provides our students with a deeper and broader understanding of what is current, relevant and right in business. We want to open young minds to business and give them the foundation they need to make career choices. We want to develop professionals with integrity and responsibility who come from diverse backgrounds. The World of Work is one example of many where we take our community right to the forefront of academic theory and business practice. 

Last September we hosted ‘World of Work: 2030 Conference’, a pioneering day of talks, discussions and debate where visions and realities of the future were engaged with. The rise of digital is changing the world of work, and this conference looked at how business education can support the employers and employees of the future.  

We asked what good recruitment would look like in 2030. How will great career development happen over the next decade? And – when do we start planning? We also looked at how we can stay human in a digital landscape, and considered how individual identities and strengths will come to eclipse skills in the emerging tech-led economy. 

Full details about last year’s event and a look ahead to our September 2018 conference can be found at henley.ac.uk/worldofwork.

Jean-Pierre Choulet, Henley Business School.