As those of you who read my blog know, I really do enjoy teaching, mentoring and working with my young entrepreneurial students at the University of Buckingham. However, this time of year is not so enjoyable, as I must mark exams and coursework.
This is not an enjoyable task, as exams must be designed to ensure that the learning outcomes from each course are achieved. It also means that I must mark exam papers and coursework in a fair way,
I would like to find a bettter way of checking students' performance, but academcs have tried to do this for many years and have not yet found a better method!
Well exam marking is now almost finished and so, thank goodness, I can look forward to 5/6 months before the next set of exams.
With all the bad news about the UK economy, I am surprised that the Export Managers of British companies have not considered opportunities in Poland.
Unlike Britain, the Polish economy is booming and since 2004 the Polish Zloy has increased in value against the Pound Sterling by about 40%. The Zloty is 20% more valuable this year compared with last.
This combination of a booming economy and a major reduction in the cost of British products and services means that theer are now great opportunities for British exporters.
Has this resulted in a boom in British exports? Sadly no, in fact according to the British Polish Chamber of Commerce, in the first two month of 2008 British exports to Poland only increased by 1.7%, whereas Polish exports to UK increased by 12.8%.
If you are an Export Manager and you would like to get more information about the export opportunites that exist in Poland, please contact me (na@nigeladams.com).
I do enjoy working with the young students at the University of Buckingham Business School. They are studying for honours degrees in Business Enterprise, whilst also developing, establishing and running their own businesses. See http://www.buckingham.ac.uk/business/bbe.
The students work hard, as not only do they have to study and run their businesses, but they have only two years to achieve their honours degrees! No long holidays, plus coursework and exams every 6 months.
The second year students are deeply involved in running their businesses, whereas the first years are completing their business plans in preparation to "pitch" for their "seed-corn" capital on 30th May 2008.
It will be interesting to see how all the students' businesses develop.
Well, I have now had two jobs for about 6 weeks and I must admit that I need about 48 hours each day. The reason for this is that my workload in Nigel Adams & Company Ltd increased dramatically, as soon as I accepted the additional job. In addition, the start of any university year is busier that other times.
Although I am enjoying the challenges, I do hope that this is just a short term situation and after Easter things will settle down. I will keep you advised of developments.
All the website and search engine optimisation advisers I meet tell me that I must post blogs regularly on my website, so that I can maintain or even improve my website's ranking in Google.
Some advisers say that daily blogging is essential and the minimum should be weekly (on the same day each week), however I am a realist and so my new year resolution is to write a blog posting at least each month. If you read my postings, you will see if I can maintain this resolution during 2008!!
During October 2007, I attended several seminars about the EU Structural Funds of about €90 billion that will be available for the development of Poland during the next few years.
If you are involved in business in Poland, you do need to check if your company is eligible to apply for any of these EU funds. They cover a wide range of business activities (e.g. Training personnel, research and development, increasing Polish exports) and geographic areas throughout Poland.
In the first instance I suggest that you check with the British Polish Chamber of Commerce website, but if you have any questions about these funds, please contact me by e-mail: na@nigeladams.com