NORWICH: The Ridgeon Group has launched an employee Foundation Degree (FdA) in Management, supporting the company’s strong commitment to staff development and training.

The bespoke work-based Foundation Degree, developed in collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University, will be open to staff across The Ridgeon Group which includes: Ridgeons Timber and Builders Merchants, Ridgeons Forest Products, Ridgeons Timber Engineering Services (RTES), CRS Wholesale, Anglia Tool Centre (ACT) and Ridgeons Independent Living Centre.

The two-year long degree programme will be delivered to 19 Ridgeon Group employees, through a combination of online learning and face-to face teaching at the University’s Rivermead campus in Chelmsford. Degree modules will cover Managing People, Customers and Markets, Managing Projects and Organisational Change, Business Planning and Decision Making.

Commenting on the development of the Foundation Degree (FdA) in Management, Ridgeon’s group managing director Angela Rushforth said: “There has never been a greater need to equip our managers with strong skill sets to enable them, and the company to adapt to an increasingly complex and competitive market.”

“The Foundation Degree in Management represents an excellent and logical progression from our existing management development tools. By focusing on development of our staff through this tailored programme, we aim to equip our staff and the company to react stronger and faster to market changes and create a structure that facilitates future company growth.”

Professor Martin Reynolds, dean of the Ashcroft International Business School, is anticipating that many more companies from the region will ultimately follow this initiative put in place by Ridgeons: “The development of the Ridgeons’ Foundation Degree in Management is an example of an organisation leading the way in higher education within their specific industry.

“Degree-level work-based learning is now applicable to many industry sectors and we expect to see a huge rise in these programmes in the future. The key is for organisations to understand the importance of applying learning to real business challenges. In this way, the focus will be on delivering real business results.”