School praised for its support of supporting businesses and students.
I am delighted to be able to share with alumni the news that the University’s School of Management has recently been granted Small Business Charter status for its outstanding work with local businesses and creating employment opportunities for students.
Business Schools have become more increasingly recognized for the role they play in stimulating growth in the economy, supporting entrepreneurship and the development of entrepreneurial skills and for their role in connecting the local business community. These are strategic priorities for the School.
The Small Business Charter is an award that celebrates business schools that excel in their role in supporting small businesses, local economies and student entrepreneurship and is only granted after rigorous assessment. The assessment was completed online over the course of two days by the Chartered Association of Business Schools.
The assessors were complementary of the School’s long-standing commitment to working with businesses and entrepreneurs in the city and region and our support through the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) and other business and community engagement initiatives that work for the benefit of our students and local small business community. Running for over 10 years the KTN provides networking and informational events for small businesses and over the lifetime of the network the School has engaged with over 3000 small firms. This creates additional benefits for our students as many of these businesses provide projects and contribute to the curriculum as well.
Commenting on the award Professor Sankar Sivarajah, Head of the School of Management, said he was thrilled by the news; “We are absolutely delighted to gain the Small Business Charter award, which recognises our School and University’s efforts in supporting our students and local small businesses, entrepreneurs and positively contributing to the local economy.”
Anne Kiem OBE, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter and Chief Executive of the Chartered Association of Business Schools, said: “We congratulate the team at Bradford University School of Management for achieving the Small Business Charter Award. Their work in supporting student employability through placement and internship schemes such as the ‘SummerExperience@Bradford’ and ‘Opportunities Abroad’ is commendable. It is fantastic that some of these internships were reserved for students from high deprivation areas, providing them with opportunities to gain valuable employability skills. Bradford’s School of Management is clearly a vital part of both the local economy and its community.”
As a school we are incredibly proud of that role and the great relationships we have with small businesses. Our students benefit greatly through the experiences, projects, and opportunities these businesses provide and similarly we know businesses value the support offered by the School and University through our KTN and by working with us and our students. We have some great plans to further extend this offer and will be launching a new space on campus for businesses and students to work in collaboratively for the new academic year.
If you would like to know more about the Schools work with the business community, the Knowledge Transfer Network, and opportunities for working with current students please contact David at D.P.Spicer@bradford.ac.uk.
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