26th Jul 2016
6 Years of the Blueprint Scholarship
At the University of Lancaster’s most recent graduation ceremony, Alex File became the most recipient of the Blueprint Scholarship Award, marking 6 years of the Blueprint Scholarship. The scholarship awards £1200 to the best final year student on the BSc Marketing & Design programme.
At the University of Lancaster’s most recent graduation ceremony, Alex File became the most recipient of the Blueprint Scholarship Award, marking 6 years of the Blueprint Scholarship. The scholarship awards £1200 to the best final year student on the BSc Marketing & Design programme.
Alex will also be coming to Blueprint for 2 weeks of work experience prior to starting his Masters in MSc International Innovation (Design) at Lancaster in September.
Commenting on winning the Scholarship, Alex said:
“I am greatly honoured to receive this award and hugely grateful to Rob for all the support, passion and guidance he has shown to me, past students and the Management School. Blueprint Interiors’ support is a fantastic demonstration of the value that the joint BSc Marketing and Design course provides and discussing Rob’s own understanding of design’s expansive role, purpose and potential in business was really refreshing to hear. I hope that Blueprint can continue to further engage with the course and the University; helping to develop the marketer-designers of the future!”
Blueprint has strong links with Lancaster University, with our Managing Director Rob Day graduating in Marketing in 1984 and our Marketing Manager Piotr Motyka graduating in the BSc Marketing & Design course in 2014. In the first two years of the scholarship, the award went to the top student of the first year of the course, with Piotr winning it and meeting Rob for the first time in 2012.
Piotr recalls “I vividly remember Rob’s enthusiasm about the importance of bringing marketing and design together to achieve success. This was something that really stood out to me and ultimately led me to apply to join the Blueprint team.” Jamie Goldup, winner of the 2014 Scholarship said: “It was obvious Rob still has a great deal of passion for Lancaster University and he sets a great example for alumni that hopefully, as I am starting my career, I will be able to emulate in the future.”
The Lancaster University BSc Marketing degree has been ranked in the UK’s top two in the Complete University Guide for the past four years. On Blueprint’s involvement with the scholarship Rob said:
“Our involvement with Lancaster University, and in particular the Management School, in providing the Blueprint Scholarship, reflects our desire to implement and encourage closer collaboration between education and industry. We firmly believe that learning is a lifelong and continuous process whose value is multiplied by the wider experience and practical application and testing obtained in commercial practice.
“The study of Design in a Marketing context is embedded in our own interests and core beliefs; we are delighted to support the course and reward outstanding effort by the most talented and committed students.”
A LOOK AT THE LAST 6 YEARS OF THE BLUEPRINT SCHOLARSHIP:
2016
Alex File pictured with Rob and Dr Ben Kerrane, Senior Lecturer in Marketing. Alex will be starting his Masters in MSc International Innovation (Design) at Lancaster in September.
2015
Emma Lindsay now an Assistant Brand Manager at Nestlé.
2014
Jamie Goldup now a UX designer at Tesco PLC pictured with Rob and current Head of the Marketing department Prof. Maria Piacentini.
2013
The Blueprint Scholarship was changed to be awarded to the top final year student seeing Paula Yeadon win the award for the second time.
2012
Piotr Motyka pictured with Rob & then Head of the Marketing department Prof. Nicholas Alexander. (If I knew I’d end up working for Blueprint and writing this article, I would have worn a much nicer jumper.)
2011
Paula Yeadon pictured with Rob. Paula is now an Account manager at HAVAS Media. In its inaugural year, the scholarship was awarded to the top student of the first year of the course.
THE FUTURE
It’s been a fantastic 6 years of the scholarship and being able to support the next generation of marketing & design professionals coming out of Lancaster has been incredibly rewarding.
The scholarship marks just the start of our relationship with Lancaster University and its community. Most recently we worked with the Marketing department (with Prof. Maria Piacentini & Dr Ben Kerrane pictured above) on their Deep Dive dissertation module for the Lancaster MSc in Marketing. The module was developed to allow students to take a ‘deep dive’ into Blueprint as a business with guidance from Piotr & Rob and to then work together on applying marketing theory as practical solutions for the challenges faced by Blueprint.