Opinion Employability

Building employability and self-identity brick by brick

The answer to developing students' core skills for employability may lie within a pile of LEGO® bricks.

6th June 2025

Goldsmiths, University of London, Institute of Management Studies

People. Behaviour. Change. You need to be creative to manage all three.

How do you measure sentiment on social media? Which technologies do you need to launch a business? How does colour affect what we buy? What does effective leadership look like? How does coaching add value to the organisation? These are the kinds of questions we're exploring at Goldsmiths' Institute of Management Studies.

We believe innovation happens where business and creativity collide. And as an institute, we have a distinct approach. We're fusing Goldsmiths' academic rigour and creative culture with industry-informed research, interactive group learning and core strengths in psychology so you can develop your own mode of management.

As a student here, you'll get to the heart of how we make decisions, learn through the experience of others, and investigate how organisations work at all levels. You'll look at areas such as developing and retaining talented people in modern organisations, applying occupational psychology to organisational change and development, and how to influence people in an ethical way.

We want you to be able to adapt and stand out in today's economy, so we make sure you study a near real-time curriculum that's rooted in current research and driven by what's happening in companies now.

You'll gain the skills to develop and realise an idea and tailor your degree to your own situation. And because our programmes are broad in scope, whether you want to create digital products, manage human capital, or run a start up, you can lead within any area, and at any stage of your professional life.

We're holistic. We blend theory, research and practice, so you get a comprehensive model of how to succeed in your career. You also have the freedom and the support to test your ideas in different settings and get inside industry. Through valuable links with TechCity and close interaction with tutors working within a range of sectors, you have the opportunity to secure a competitive placement and analyse current management models.

We're diverse. The IMS is proud of its diverse student population. We offer tailored support for students of all identities and pride ourselves on being a space where all students feel safe and welcomed to be their true selves. Our staff are also diverse. The IMS takes pride in its diverse staff, representing a blend of industry and academic backgrounds as well as cultural perspectives from around the world. This diversity enriches the academic environment, fostering innovation and cross-cultural understanding.

We're creative. We build on our Goldsmiths roots (our Gold-Smiths-Ness) to nurture creativity across all our degrees. The IMS is a hub of creativity with a rich academic heritage.

We're different. Our programmes offer unique, research-led, critical perspectives on the economy and society. Through training, students develop their own analytical viewpoints, enabling them to stand out in addressing real-world issues and solve important problems of our time.

We're supportive. As a student here, you won't be dismissed for having a radical idea. You'll have the chance to hear from everyone in the room. Our student masterclasses give you the opportunity to listen and learn from the experiences of others so you can apply different perspectives to the same problem and find new ways of doing things.

We're research-active. A rich knowledge base and solid academic foundation inform everything you learn, and reflect what's happening within today's industries - whether it's an investment bank in the City, a multinational consultancy or a Silicon Roundabout start-up.