Kent and Guildhall business schools reaccredited with the Small Business Charter Award

We are delighted to announce that two further business schools have successfully completed their reassessment and will continue to hold the Small Business Charter Award. These business schools were assessed by the SBC’s assessors – including small business leaders themselves - and have continued to demonstrate brilliant work in supporting small businesses, student entrepreneurship, and their local economies. The schools are:

• Guildhall School of Business and Law, London Metropolitan University

• Kent Business School

Anne Kiem OBE, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter and Chief Executive of the Chartered Association of Business Schools, said:

“We would like to congratulate these business schools for successfully retaining their accreditations. These schools have a fantastic impact on small businesses in their local economies, while their commitment to supporting student entrepreneurship and growth remains outstanding. We are delighted to continue working with these business schools in the future, especially as delivery partners for the Help to Grow: Management Course.”

Guildhall School of Business and Law (GSBL) offers high-quality support for SMEs in the region, as evidenced through initiatives such as the London Metropolitan University Accelerator business incubator which provides support for up to 30 local SMEs at any given time. Other strategic initiatives such as the London Met Lab, which provides pro-bono services to SMEs in the area, and the Cyber Security Research Centre, have been well utilised by local small businesses.

GSBL has continued to demonstrate a commitment to enterprise education and skills development, with enterprise opportunities being embedded both within the curriculum and in a range of extra-curricular activities. Many of the work-based learning opportunities provided by the school involve local small businesses, with the business school maintaining partnerships with over 600 local organisations. These partnerships not only provide development opportunities for students and SMEs alike, but have also created a range of employment opportunities for those in the region.

Guildhall School of Business and Law has successfully retained the SBC Award for a further 3 years, with the London Metropolitan University Accelerator business incubator being awarded exemplar status.

Professor Doris Schedlitzki, GSBL, Head of Research and Knowledge Exachange, Guildhall School of Business and Law, said:

“We are delighted to have retained our SBC Award. It demonstrates our commitment to working with and supporting SMEs in the region holistically across our portfolio of enterprise education, skills development, knowledge exchange and research. Going forward, it is a key strategic priority for the Guildhall School of Business and Law to continue to grow partnerships with local organisations through our pro-bono services, collaborative research activities and enterprise opportunities for our students.”

Kent Business School has continued to evidence their excellent support for local SMEs. As part of the school curriculum, KBS partner with their Entrepreneurs in Residence and local small businesses to run guest lectures, workshops and provide consultancy services, with over 100 students having received mentoring from SMEs, allowing students to join up their academic learning with practical, real-life experience.

Kent Business School also run a Consultancy Week, where students partner with local businesses to work on live projects; SMEs benefit from the different mindsets the students provide, with students able to gain real life entrepreneurial experience.

KBS engage with SMEs on curriculum design, to embed enterprise in all areas of the curriculum. Further to this, 54% of the university-wide spend is with SMEs, with 16% of that overall spend coming from within KBS.

Kent Business School has demonstrated its commitment to supporting student entrepreneurship through initiatives such as the ASPIRE facility, which provides dedicated space for student start-ups to use, and the Business Start-Up Journey (BSUJ) programme, which allows student entrepreneurs to pitch for seed funding from Santander.

Kent Business School has successfully retained the SBC Award for a further 3 years.

 Professor Marian Garcia, Dean of Kent Business School said:

“Here at Kent Business School, we are delighted to have our commitment to SMEs recognised by the Chartered Association of Business Schools through our reaccreditation with the Small Business Charter.

“We embed business experience in our teaching to provide experiential learning opportunities for all our students and we support real-world relevance in our research activities to support responsible management and enterprise. This recognition inspires us to continue to build on our progress so far and specifically, we look forward to working with local SME leaders and CABS in providing the Help to Grow: Management Course.”