NEWS ARCHIVE
Students work on research project for Padstow Christmas Festival
Cornwall College Camborne students have been carrying out a research project for the organisers of Padstow Christmas Festival this week, after being approached by the festival organisers
Students on the first year of their Events Management foundation degree were asked to undertake the project by celebrity chef Rick Stein's PR team, who are involved in organising the prestigious festival. The brief given to students was to carry out a research project where they had to design an evaluation questionnaire about the festival that they could use to then interview visitors to the event.
The questionnaire focuses on identifying highlights of the festival for visitors, where they had heard about the festival, if any aspect of it could be improved and whether they would visit again, as well as general demographic information such as age and address.
Students then attended the event, which features a Christmas market, Santa's Grotto and Cookery Theatre, to interview visitors and complete the questionnaires, with the results being collated and analysed and the findings presented in a report to the festival committee early next year.
Course lecturer Gail Angove said: "The students have been really enthusiastic and I've even had some interest from students on our tourism courses wanting to get involved! It's a great opportunity for the students to work with professionals on such a high profile event."
Kate Ardron, from Rick Stein PR, said: "The questionnaire looked fabulous and completely focussed on what we wanted to look at and analyse. We really appreciate all the students' hard work and are looking forward to seeing the results of their project."
Student Tobie Heseltine, 20 and living in Falmouth but originally from Saffron Walden in Essex, said: "It's been a really great experience and I've enjoyed working on the project. I can't wait to present our findings to the committee and I hope it helps them with the event in the future."
Dave Linnell, Principal of Cornwall College, said: "We really encourage our students to take advantage of every opportunity whilst they are studying with us. Working with industry professionals on such high profile events gives our students valuable experience and a greater insight into the industry."
