As live events become an increasingly import part of the marketers armoury and with the clamouring for ROI getting ever louder, the role of education is becoming more important across the sector. So why is the University of Huddersfield having trouble filling the senior lecturer post in its Events Management BA (Hons) course?

About to go into its fourth year of delivery, the extremely popular four-year course which includes a year’s supervised work experience, gives students a thorough grounding in all aspects of event management. “We have a very small teaching team,” explained course leader Angela Anthonisz. “The primary staff are Rita Carmouche (head of subject, who is well recognised in academic circles both in the UK and abroad); myself (arrived in Huddersfield two years ago from five years teaching in Switzerland and four years in Derby before that); Liz Thompson (course leader for hospitality who contributes from her background in contract catering); and Andrew Jenkins (course leader for tourism and leisure, who is an HR specialist). We also have input from specialists in industry through a series of guest lectures and staff from design, advertising and media.”

The university has advertised the post on two previous occasions over the past year but have not been able to get the right person. For Anthonisz the reasons they have found difficulty recruiting are difficult to pin down. “Obviously we have competition from much larger and more established institutions with a track record in publishing and research, but it is often difficult to find people who meet the academic or experience based criteria. As a small team we are looking for someone with the same level of enthusiasm as ourselves who either has good teaching experience in the field, or who has some exceptional industry experience and wants to move into teaching.”

Anthonisz highlights some of the advantages that Huddersfield has to offer:
“Huddersfield has a great reputation in terms of student feedback and facilities; the campus is centrally located, easy to get to from most major cities (Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield); and there are some great opportunities for research and to aid in the development of the existing degree, but also in terms of inputting to a proposed MA programme in events.”

If you are interested in finding out more about this position contact Angela Anthonisz at A.J.Anthonisz@hud.ac.uk or on 01484 472493

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