Teesside University rewarded for putting the business customer first

The commitment of staff at Teesside University to meeting the demands of business clients has been recognised with a prestigious award.

Teesside is one of only a few universities in the country to receive the nationally recognised Customer First accreditation for its services to business.

This is the third time that Teesside has received the award and on each occasion the University must show how it has improved.

For the first time, the services offered by Teesside University’s Darlington campus were included in the scope of the award.

Staff underwent a rigorous assessment to determine how well the University meets client needs, through relationship building, market awareness and people development.

Particular attention was also given to the consistency of the University’s approach to business, given that it deals with hundreds of organisations every year.

This was necessary due to the huge numbers of businesses that the University works with.

Karen Race, Deputy Director of Academic Enterprise, said: 'We’re delighted to have received this accreditation.

'As a business-facing University, this external recognition is very important to us.

'It demonstrates our commitment to being customer focused and to meeting business needs and shows that universities like Teesside can and do work very effectively with business.'

The University’s business services include consultancy, graduate recruitment, joint research and bespoke training courses.

It supports new company creation and development through a comprehensive enterprise programme, while DigitalCity Fellowships provide digital startup companies with mentoring and funding to develop their ideas.

A third of the University’s business-facing staff were interviewed to see how well their work met 30 rigorous customer experience criteria.

Michael Wildey, Customer First practitioner, said: 'Teesside University is one of the first organisations I would choose on my list of exemplars of the Customer First standard.

'They have used the standard to support their Business Engagement strategy over the last five years, and achieved measurable improvements in the way they support and deliver services to the business community.'

The University was also recently recognised with the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for excellence in higher education.

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