World Of Learning Conference & Exhibition 2011

Registration is open for the highly important World of Learning Conference & Exhibition, rightly dubbed the premier event for business learning, which will draw thousands of learning and development (L&D) professionals to the NEC in Birmingham on Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 September 2011.

Now in its 19th year, the event's exhibition will bring together around 100 UK and international exhibitors, while the world-renowned conference will feature industry- leading speakers from across the globe. Alongside this are several inspiring free features including the ever-popular free seminar programme, the Professional Development Zone, the Social Learning Zone and the International Zone, which attracts L&D buyers from overseas. Together these features make the World of Learning Conference & Exhibition the essential date in the diary for all leading L&D professionals each year.

Visitors to the exhibition will find companies offering the latest in ideas in all sectors of L&D, from e-learning, using social media in learning and consultancy, to experiential learning, coaching and informal learning. Leading organisations taking part include Thales Training & Consultancy, Kaplan IT Learning, Seminar Learning System, LSN, SalesAssessment.com, Priority Management and Jigsaw@work.

As companies start to focus on business beyond the recession, HR and L&D professionals are now collaborating more closely than ever, particularly on issues such as organisational development and talent management. This comes at a time when, according to research by Future Think, 74 per cent of management professionals in many of the most innovative organisations see the influence of L&D expanding in the immediate future*.

Both the exhibition and conference are designed to enable L&D specialists to develop their skills and consult their peers and experts in order to equip them with the capabilities to succeed in the current and future business environment.

The highly respected conference reflects the current business market and future direction of the industry, addressing and providing valuable insight into the key issues facing L&D, from talent management, employee engagement, leadership development and coaching, to informal learning, collaborative learning, e-learning development and proving ROI. An impressive programme of top-class speakers will be announced in June. The World of Learning Conference is a CPD-certified event, providing delegates with a CPD Certificate of Attendance.

Free features within the exhibition will include: an extensive programme of informative free seminars, sponsored by TrainingZone.co.uk, offering practical advice on the key current L&D issues; the Experiential Learning Zone, facilitated by Pearlcatchers, providing hands-on sessions about creativity and communication; the Professional Development Zone, hosted by the British Institute for Learning & Development (BILD), where experts offer invaluable careers advice; the Social Learning Zone; the International Zone, supported by UKTI, bringing L&D decision-makers from a variety of markets worldwide; skills workshops; the Workplace Wellness Zone; the Trainer Base; and the Business & Networking Lounge.

In conjunction with the World of Learning, the Guardian will be publishing a supplement about L&D, which will be distributed within the newspaper on 10 September. The supplement will provide high quality editorial offering important insight into many of the topical issues to be discussed at the World of Learning.

"L&D professionals are facing a rapidly changing environment with a variety of new issues and opportunities that were not around before the recession. A visit to the event will ensure they are up-to-date with the latest thinking in every aspect of the industry and provide cost-efficient solutions to their needs," said Andrew Gee, Senior Project Manager for the World of Learning.

The World of Learning 2011 is held in association with BILD and is supported by the following associations and industry titles: UKTI, Personnel Today, HR Magazine, Training Journal, TrainingZone.co.uk, eLearning Network, the European Institute for e-Learning, Towards Maturity, PersonnelZone.com and Learning Magazine; Government Business and Government Technology are public sector media supporters and Training Journal is the official media supporter of the conference.

Registration for the World of Learning 2011 is now open at www.learnevents.com, where full details about the event are also available. For the latest news and updates about the World of Learning 2011 follow the exhibition on Twitter at www. twitter.com/Learn_EventsUK, and join the World of Learning Conference & Exhibition group on LinkedIn.

Trade Skills 4U & JTL partner to deliver quality electrical apprenticeships

National Electrical Provision enhanced by New Training Partnership

Trade Skills 4U and JTL have announced an i8mportant partnership to deliver NVQ Diploma qualifications to electrical apprentices looking to become fully qualified in the electrical industry.

Thanks to this new agreement, the two organisations are working together to offer the most recognised electrician’s NVQ qualification of its kind in the UK. The government, ECA, JIB, JTL and Summit skills all recognise it as a robust route to becoming a fully qualified electrician.

Candidates looking to train within this industry will now be able to benefit from this collaboration as they will effectively receive the ‘best bits’ from two nationally recognised organisations, allowing the partners to focus their energy on what they do best.

The theoretical and practical training required to complete the knowledge components of the qualification will be conducted within Trade Skills 4U’s state of the art training facilities in Gatwick, West Sussex. Candidates will be able to take advantage of the centre’s fully equipped classrooms complete with workshop areas built to enhance student learning. The assessments and NVQ visits after the training course will then be delivered nationwide via an assigned JTL assessor.

Carl Bennett, Managing Director of Trade Skills 4U said: “As one of the UK’s leading independent electrical training provider’s, we bring an expertise in making people aware of the opportunities available to them along with the right customer service attitude needed to drive a retail business where the customer is key. This is a great opportunity for us as well as the students to come together and build the best training programme on offer today.”

Caroline Turner, Director of Operations for JTL added “We are delighted to have entered into this arrangement with Trade Skills 4U which we envisage can only bring benefits to the apprentices and their employers. Both organisations place strong emphasis on the quality of provision and support and we very much look forward to working together to creating innovative ways of meeting our employer partners’ requirements for training and assessment long into the future.”

Trade Skills 4U have many fully and partially funded electrical apprenticeships available for those wishing to become trained as fully qualified electricians.

FACTFILE:

Trade Skills 4U LTD is the UK’s largest independent electrical & renewable energy training provider based in Gatwick, West Sussex. The company established in 2005 and has since added a dedicated renewable energy training centre to its brand.

The centre houses the first and only single storey training roof created solely for the use of students training to install solar PV. Trade Skills 4U offer a range of electrician courses and renewable energy courses for those looking to train to become fully qualified electricians, domestic installers, renewable energy installers and sales and management consultants.

Cornwall College to cut budgeting time and to electronically circulate over 100,000 documents

Advanced Business Solutions’ finance system will provide Cornwall College with vital time and paper saving benefits.

Cornwall College, the third largest further and higher education college in the UK with 45,000 students, is implementing a financial management system (FMS) with integrated budgeting, forecasting and planning functionality from Advanced Business Solutions (ABS). This FMS, which also comprises integrated cash flow forecasting, workflow and document imaging software, will cut the time taken to budget and forecast and enable the electronic circulation of 100,000 documents. The planned go live of the new ABS system is Q1 2012.

Cornwall College currently uses a restrictive finance system that doesn't adequately support the college’s organisation-wide processes and paperless needs.

Cornwall College’s Finance Systems Manager, Christine Gosling, explains “Our current finance system cannot provide us with the sophisticated level of support we require. We need a finance system that is intuitive and flexible with advanced functionality so that we can streamline the flow of information, improve budgeting and forecasting and reduce our reliance on paper. After reviewing the market, Advanced Business Solutions’ finance system was the best choice for our needs.”

ABS’ finance system will provide Cornwall College with real-time budgetary information so that it can keep abreast of actual and expected financial expenditure, ultimately improving decision making. Currently, budgeting and forecasting is manually intensive and the data is soon out-of-date.

“We will reduce the time taken to compile and update budgets”, says Christine Gosling. “Instead of budget holders spending 30 minutes revising their budgets, by using the ABS system they will only need to spend five minutes, significantly cutting budgeting time. We will also be able to review budgets in real-time 24 hours a day, seven days a week, aiding decision making.”

The document imaging functionality (powered by Version One) combined with the integrated workflow functionality will enable the paperless circulation, approval and storage of business documents. This will prove key to the College’s goal of becoming as paperless as possible.

Christine Gosling says, “Using ABS’ system, we will reduce the time taken circulating and approving paper documents across our eight sites. Staff currently spend far too much time paper chasing and so by freeing-up paper-based administration, they’ll have more time to deal with student queries.”


FACTFILE:

www.cornwall.ac.uk

Cornwall College is the UK’s third largest further and higher education college, serving over 45,000 students. The College is spread across seven different sites, offering a range of further and higher education courses.

About Advanced Business Solutions www.advancedcomputersoftware.com/abs

Advanced Business Solutions (ABS) provides leading integrated business applications and services that enable public, private and third sector organisations to retain control, improve visibility and gain efficiencies whilst continually improving corporate performance. ABS prides itself on getting close to its customers by understanding their businesses and responding to their evolving needs.

ABS' software systems comprise core accounting/financial management, procurement, human resource and payroll systems, integrated with a range of collaborative, document management and business intelligence solutions to extend the value and effectiveness of the finance, human resource and payroll departments, which can also be delivered as a managed or bureau service option.

Customers come from both public and private sectors and include Companies House, Newcastle City Council, WH Smith, Royal Bank of Scotland, Aer Lingus, National Express Group, DFS, RSPB and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust.

Advanced Business Solutions is a division of Advanced Computer Software Group plc, a leading supplier of software and IT services to the health, care and business services sectors.

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