Press Release: Roffey Park Institute responds to the new world of workplace learning

Roffey Park Institute, established 75 years ago at the end of the Second World War, to re-equip the skillsets and mindsets of the post-war workforce, is now reshaping to re-equip the skillsets and mindsets of the post-pandemic world of work.

Based in a beautiful campus on the outskirts of Horsham in West Sussex for the past 75 years, it is now planning to dispose of its campus, through sale or lease, to turn its focus to the funding and investment necessary in the post-Covid economy to create multi-sensory, always available, workplace learning and wellbeing solutions.

CEO, Dr Robert Coles commented, “over the last 14 months adult learning has experienced massive change. Equally, the way we all work will not return to patterns we knew pre-Covid. We are making a strategic shift, to enable us to develop learning and mental health solutions for clients in the public and commercial sectors around the world across the spectrum of classroom – virtual – distance – digital. This, blended learning spectrum, is what is now demanded. It reflects the need for in the moment development, for helping teams and organisations deepen the wellbeing and resilience needed for sustained high performance, and for providing learning that can be accessed anytime, on demand”.

Chair of the Board of Trustees, Roger Leek added, “We have seen an accelerated change in the world of work since March 2020 and we want to respond and be in a position to offer a multi- sensory learning experience where and when our clients and participants demand. To fulfil our charitable objectives for the future we need to focus our investment in this exciting new world of learning, and to fund this we are taking steps to dispose of the campus in Horsham as it no longer provides the centre for our programmes. It’s a big moment, and an emotional one for us all. However, since our inception, 75 year ago, we have been at the cutting edge of workplace learning and transformation, and we will be focussing all our efforts on remaining a leading, international institute for collaborative, generative organisational learning”.

Our core areas of expertise remain the same, in the fields of leadership and management development, organisational development and HRBP skills and practices, and wellbeing, sustainability and resilience. Equally, we are developing digital approaches that will protect and enhance our leading reputation for group dynamics based, collaborative, engaging learning that sustainably changes what people do and how they think.

Already, we have launched programme delivery methods that include tele-presence robotics, one of only two institutions in the UK to do so. Soon, we will be testing and launching 3D avatar approaches to virtual learning, enabling distributed and global teams to learn from and with each other, anytime. Roffey Park is ready to meet the demands of our clients, as they respond to the demands of the new world of work.

For more information, contact our Marketing and Communications office on: 01293 851644

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