FIRES and emergencies across the West Midlands could be dealt with more efficiently due to training in Worcester.

The University of Worcester’s Business School is now working in partnership with West Midlands Fire Service to develop the leadership capability of manager and leaders.

Through a tendering process, the business school, which is based at the university's Castle Street campus, was invited to work with the service to develop customised work-based learning versions of the university’s well-established Leading to Excellence programmes. Over the next three years, the school will deliver a programme leading to a foundation degree in leadership and management through work-based learning. In addition, a shorter programme will be delivered leading to the award of a university diploma in leadership and management. It is expected that around 150 members of staff at WMFS will undertake one of the programmes.

Mark Richardson, head of Worcester Business School, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with WMFS on our flagship programme. This is a further example of Worcester Business School’s growing reputation in corporate and executive education.”

The Leading to Excellence programme enables businesses to access bite-size short programmes which can be taken individually or accumulated into a full management or executive qualification up to MBA level.

Sarah Warnes, strategic people lead for West Midlands Fire Service, added: “The leading excellence programme is an established and successful strand of our journey to becoming a true learning organisation. Having a university accredited programme, which is delivered in the workplace and tailored to meet our current workplace challenges, is really important to us to. To prepare for the future we need leaders who are change ready and are able to think critically and provide an evidence based approach to their decision making.”