26 June 2008

Enterprise Gym grows into new home

*** Photo opportunity - 1 pm, Friday June 27th,
E-Gym, Caird House, Perth Road (opposite Tower Building)

The University of Dundee’s pioneering Enterprise Gym - which encourages enterprise and entrepreneurial skills in students - has grown into a new home which will be officially opened this Friday (June 27th).

Over a thousands students at the University have signed up to the E-Gym since it was created three years ago.

Now the E-Gym is moving into a new base at Caird House, on Perth Road, offering even better facilities to the students. The facility will be officially opened tomorrow (Friday) by University Principal Sir Alan Langlands.

Sir Alan commented, "Students of all backgrounds and nationalities are finding the Enterprise Gym an excellent way of learning first hand about entrepreneurship and some of the harder business skills; practising `soft’ personal skills and building their social and professional networks."

"As a result academic staff are noting better performance from students who are members of the Enterprise Gym, and employers tell us they appreciate graduates’ awareness of commerce and business issues."

Ken Edward, Enterprise Facilitator for the E-Gym, welcomed the move into new premises.

"This is a great move for us as we can now accommodate more people, stage more events and generally offer a better all-round experience to our students," said Mr Edward.

"We will now be able to host events like our Supercoach sessions here, for which we have had excellent support from the local and national business community."

The Enterprise Gym is part of the Centre for Enterprise Management at the University, created to enable undergraduate students to develop enterprise and entrepreneurial skills and self-reliance.

This is done with the support of the business community, both through financial support to sponsor events and prizes and through direct involvement, participating in our activities.

Student members get access to online training materials, informal training sessions led by members of the local business community, more formal talks from visiting Supercoach speakers and a variety of competitions.

These prizes, along with certificates for participation in the Gym over the year, are awarded at an annual awards ceremony in March.

For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk