LEADERS of Scottish companies turning over at least £500,000 have been urged to apply for a place on a growth programme led by the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship.

The centre is looking for 15 bosses to take part in the 10-month course, which offers the latest business focused teaching from Strathclyde Business School academics alongside insight from successful entrepreneurs such as Sir Tom Hunter and Chris van der Kuyl.

The Growth Advantage Programme (GAP) is the first course of its kind to be offered in Scotland.

Eleanor Shaw, head of the Hunter Centre, said: "There are similar programmes available in England. One is the Growth Accelerator Programme, and the other is the Goldman Sachs 10,000 programme, both run through business schools but are not available to businesses Scotland. The other good provider down south is Cranfield and they will accept Scottish businesses.

"At the moment, for a lot of Scottish businesses of mid-market size looking for growth and support they have to go outside Scotland, and it's incredibly expensive when they access it."

The course is being run in partnership with Santander, which has a university network around the world, through its SME programme.

The Spanish bank will provide £5000 of the £7500 cost of the course, with the business owner covering the remaining £2500. However it is not necessary to be a Santander customer to take part.

Ms Shaw said the Hunter Centre has been developing the course for the last two years, in conjunction with partners such as Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway, as well as business owners and entrepreneurs.

She explained it was important for academics to be seen as being in touch with the day to day realities of running a business.

Ms Shaw said: "Yes, it [the course] has been designed and developed by professors at the Hunter Centre, but we have been working with entrepreneurs. The big challenge that universities have is to not be seen as ivory towers and to be seen as working with business.

"The course has not been designed by a group of academic researchers with their noses in books. Yes, there's been a bit of that, but we have worked with other business owners, entrepreneurs and have looked at other programmes. The design and delivery is a partnership between professors and experienced entrepreneurs."

The course has been designed to minimise the amount of time delegates spend out of their businesses, Ms Shaw said. The individuals will attend the Strathclyde Business School for two days every two months, with teaching and networking taking place on a Friday and a Saturday.

To identify candidates, the Hunter Centre is holding recruitment events, and is also promoting the course through partner organisations such as Entrepreneurial Scotland and Business Gateway.