Selling point

WORKPLACE LEARNING: Harrods, London’s legendary department store, is famous for its luxury goods, and for turning shopping into entertainment. Now the 175-year-old institution is marking another milestone: it is the first British retailer to offer an honours degree in sales.

No, you can’t buy one. This two-year degree is for Harrods staff, and is taught by in-house trainers in cooperation with Anglia Ruskin University. Subjects taught include human behaviour, shopping psychology, product knowledge and economics.

There are no tuition fees for Harrods staff, who also receive all textbooks free of charge. Lectures take place during working hours and students receive their regular salaries. Participants are required to sign a contract saying they will continue to work for Harrods while taking the degree, and that they will remain with the firm for six months after completion. In return, Harrods hopes that degree holders will sell even more luxury items than before.

“We’re not shy to admit that we’re a business, we’re here to sell, and it’ll be great to see our sales go up as a result of offering the degree in sales,” says Arkin Salih, the company’s learning and development manager. “But, at the same time, the fact that this scheme is accredited gives the training legitimacy,” Salih told The Guardian. “It will hugely boost staff development, and bolsters the reputation of sales as a career.”

"We're a business and we're here to sell." Arkin Salih

As the government cuts university budgets, institutions of higher learning are turning to the private sector as a potential source of funding. But companies expect to see concrete results for their money, says Professor Michael Thorne, vice-chancellor at Anglia Ruskin. “Employers aren’t just going to give universities huge donations for the general purpose of educating their potential workforce,” Thorne comments. “But if we can work together on a specific project that will benefit the university and the workplace, that’s a much more convincing idea.”

The Higher Education Council for England (Hefce) has invested over £60 million to help universities set up projects involving private-sector workplaces. “There’s been significant growth in the number of companies that have approached us about workplace learning over the past year, because they know it’s a way of helping them out of the recession,” Thorne says.

Harrods staffer Samantha Poole, 20, says she’s excited about the degree programme. “I’m hoping to become really knowledgeable about sales and customer services, and pass that on to colleagues. We get a lot of tourists here, so I’m really looking forward to the course’s module in international customers,” Poole adds.