Deloitte and the British equivalent of Student Sport Ireland have signed a five year partnership agreement which will offer business mentoring to university sports clubs across the UK.
The intention is to offer support to club captains and other leaders within sporting groups to develop leadership competence, communication and team skills in a business environment.
One of the key elements in identifying the opportunity that exists within the sporting programmes of third level education was the result of a survey conducted by British Universities and Colleges Sport which revealed the positive impact on sports participation on employability.
94% of employers agreed that students who were active within sport displayed good employability skills while perhaps most tellingly the average early career salary of the same graduates is £32,552 compared to £26,728 among the general graduate output.
That research conducted by Sheffield Hallam University engaged with graduates and employers and highlighted the additional credit which the latter gives to those who are active in sport.
An interview with leading food retailer Waitrose included the reference that “active engagement in sport could have some significant benefits to candidates when making job applications. If it was a team sport and the candidate was a captain or took a leading role we would take this seriously as a non-academic achievement. It’s a supporting factor alongside their application of having taken the opportunity to practise and develop leadership skills.”
The research also found that while 27% of graduates who were not active in sport endured a period of unemployment in their career, that figure dropped to 21% among those who were involved in sport.
“Deloitte is a firm that champions the values and contribution that sport makes to the individual and to society,” said Heather Hancock, Managing Partner, Client Experience for Deloitte UK.
“We’ve seen this at close hand through our long term support for disability sport and the British Paralympic Association, through the Deloitte Ride Across Britain cycle event, in our role supporting the London 2012 Games, and in our firm’s flexible employment approach for elite athletes.
“This new partnership with BUCS allows us to work closely with students who have the skills and attributes we look for in graduates, and our people can get involved by offering mentoring and business workshops.”
Apart form the mentoring and skills development a key part of the arrangement will be to actively work towards increasing the participation and profile of disability sport and Women’s sport on campuses across Britain.
This is an initiative which could be replicated within Ireland. We have a strong commitment to sport within third level colleges from UCD to UL, Athlone and Dublin Institutes of Technology, DCU and many more south and north of the border. Student Sport Ireland is presently tendering for a research project aimed at determining the level of sporting involvement across 200,000 full time students. Part of that research should be geared towards learning that could be applied to the securing of business partnerships.
In June 2014 Sport for Business will host its annual conference on the Business of Youth Sport. Wouldn’t it be great to have a discussion between one of our key management consultancy companies be it Accenture, PwC or Deloitte about what can be done in Ireland to leverage our strong third level base of graduates and our deep commitment to sport as a vital part of lifelong learning.
Sports Analytics Round Table – Oct 24
Sports Tourism Seminar – Nov 07
Irish Sponsorship Awards
Sports Philanthropy Round Table
Youth Sports Conference
Sport for Business 20/20 for 2015 – Oct 07 2014
