Bursary recipient David Crook, foreground, with CGi director Peter Budwin
MORE businesses should fund employees who want to obtain higher-education qualifications, according to the Confederation of Guernsey Industry. Director Peter Budwin said most Guernsey employers could do more to help staff with the costs.
‘I know that some banks already pay for their employees to get certain qualifications, but more could be done by the wider business community in Guernsey. The issue of staff retention is currently a prevalent one and this could go a long way to addressing that as well.’
The CGi makes a bursary scheme available every two years for an employee of a member company to obtain a master’s in business administration through the GTA University Centre.
‘If the States stops student grants and goes to loans, there are likely to be more people wanting to gain university qualifications on-island so employers should get more involved,’ said Mr Budwin. ‘We need to make sure that we’re continually enhancing the skills of the island’s workforce.’
Former Sigma employee David Crook, who now works as a technical sales consultant for Virtualize IT, has just gained his MBA.
He was the first recipient of the CGi bursary and received £5,000 over the two years it took to complete the work.
Mr Budwin said the CGi was the only umbrella organisation in Guernsey that he knew of which was funding higher education for employees.
‘When we started the bursary scheme in 2005 in conjunction with the GTA University Centre, the idea was that we would sponsor an employee of a CGi company to obtain an MBA.
‘The reason why we chose the MBA was because the people who do it are not usually those going off-island for the first time. We’ll be deciding in the future whether we want to offer a bursary for other subjects.
‘I don’t see why other organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Guernsey International Business Association can’t make some funding available as well.’
Mr Crook completed a dissertation, ‘Should IT be viewed as a strategy?’, for his MBA, for which he asked CGi members to take part in a survey.
He said he was extremely grateful for its financial support.
‘Doing an MBA is never a cheap option. With the teaching and all the books you need, it’s always going to be an expensive undertaking.
‘It gave me the opportunity to vastly increase my knowledge. By far the most valuable thing was discussing ideas with my fellow students.
‘If you go into it just for the three letters after your name, you’ve missed the point of an MBA. It’s about critical analysis of a subject.’
Article posted on 25th July, 2008 - 2.30pm
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