Bradford College

The Pace to Raise Ambition

Students from the Sixth Form Centre at Bradford College were invited for a V.I.P tour of Pace plc to give them an insight into the world of work.  The company believes it is vital to maintain links with education and invest time in students as potential employees of the future.

During the tour of the Bradford based firm, students discovered Pace was one of the leading designers and developers of set top boxes for digital TV in the world.  They also learnt that last year Pace scooped awards for Best Exporter in 2008 and the Queens Award for International Trade. Pace has since then been awarded a second successive Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation for High Definition Set-Top Box Technology.

Explaining how the trip to Pace came about, Curriculum Team Leader, Veronique Leygue said:  “We visited Pace last year with a group of Business Studies students and found it was a very successful and motivational trip.  That’s why we decided to pay another visit and give this years students the opportunity to see what it’s like to work in industry and apply what they’ve learnt in College to an industry background.” 

Invited to a boardroom presentation, our students were given the full red carpet treatment.  They also took the opportunity to find out more about career opportunities within the company, the impact of the recent credit crunch on the business and business models used by Pace.

Commenting on the success of the trip, Veronique said:  “When our students came back from the trip they were really elated. They were delighted to have been given two hours to find out more about the business.  They’d been given, what we’d call, the full red carpet treatment.  Pace is a very busy company and people are always on the go, but they made us feel very welcome.  We were invited to the boardroom to have tea and coffee and watch a corporate presentation.  They really looked after us to a very high standard.  They basically dealt with us as if we were clients or business associates, so the students didn’t feel patronised.  The students were flattered and delighted to have been given such an insight into how Pace worked.  The press attaché also came along to take photographs of our students and ask them questions for a recent Yorkshire Post article.”

Veronique continued:  “The feedback we received from Pace regarding our students was incredibly positive!  They found our group to be very articulate and intelligent and able to follow the complex hour long presentation they use globally with great ease.  They remembered all the details and asked the right questions… they were really on the ball!”

Veronique added:  “Pace is a Bradford based company with really strong Yorkshire roots and links.  It’s very important to the company, to give something back to the community.  That’s why they’re always on the lookout for bright local people, who could potentially become employees.  Within the group that visited we have some very, very talented, bright young people.  Following the success of the trip, many of our students liked what they saw and felt that Pace could be a place where they would like to work in the future.” Pace employs over 1000 people in locations all around the world, including France, the USA, India and Hong Kong, with Pace's international headquarters based in Saltaire.

Veronique concluded: “The students thoroughly enjoyed the experience; they were really, really pleased.   I think experiences like this are incredibly important, as the trip to Pace demonstrated.  The outcome of the trip has been extremely positive and fruitful.  The visit proved to be enormously motivating, focussing their minds on what they can achieve if they have good grades, go on to higher education and study hard.  This trip also allowed them to see what sort of company they can work for, what kind of environment they could be in and what kind of jobs they can aim for in Bradford. Subsequently raising ambition, boosting moral and increasing our students’ determination to succeed!”