On the 16th of March, Lancaster University and Lancaster BID together hosted ten local city businesses at LUMS.
We, as research fellows, had this opportunity to have eye-opening conversations with business owners as well as participating students to understand their perspectives on the relationship between students and businesses. It was fascinating to see how business owners and the university’s students collaborated to facilitate entrepreneurial activities in Lancaster.
Many great conversations appeared in the activity! Business managers obtained significant insights into the students’ behaviours who either live in the city or at the university’s campus as their would-be customers. Students also learned a lot about the local businesses’ strategies and approaches for promoting their products and services. Many of them became good friends! Both business managers and the students looked forward to participating in similar activities next time!
We managed to collect a considerable amount of qualitative data. So, in the upcoming month, we will analyze the data and provide both businesses and students with a detailed report of the event. It is quite a lot of work, but we are very excited and enjoying the task! It is a delight to be on board and working with the team. We cannot wait to continue this journey to facilitate the collaboration of Lancaster University and the Lancaster business district. See you in our final report and presentation!
Authors: The Research Fellows (Xiaoxi, Lekhana & Farshad)