The Sussex Department of Business and Management has established a new partnership with the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed (IPSE), the largest association of independent professionals in the EU. 

The Department is the first in the South East to join the organisation's recently launched University Partnership programme, building on an existing relationship of research collaboration. 

Dr Monica Masucci, Lecturer in Strategy and Entrepreneurship, spoke of the ways in which students will benefit from the agreement:

'A growing number of Sussex students show interest in starting up their own businesses and in working as freelancers. Many of them are attracted to the opportunities arising in Brighton’s Creative, Digital and IT cluster in which the University is embedded.

'We believe that our partnership with IPSE can enhance our support to those students wishing to pursue this career, increasing their awareness of the benefits and challenges of freelancing.'

IPSE, the leading authority on freelancing in the UK, is a not-for-profit organisation representing over 67,000 freelancers from contractors and consultants from every sector of the economy.