The Small Business Charter Award
London South Bank University Business School has retained the Small Business Charter Award following a successful reassessment.
The panel were particularly impressed with the school’s Business Solutions Centre, a dedicated enterprise space which delivers a wide range of development events and workshops appropriate to SMEs. Feedback from the SMEs who have engaged with this resource was resoundingly positive, with many of them commenting on how pleased they were that the workshops continued to be delivered virtually throughout the pandemic, providing them with support at a vital time of need.
It is clear that the overall strategy of the school is tailored towards supporting student entrepreneurship and employability, by providing students with dedicated start-up space and giving opportunities for work experience with local SMEs The school’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence scheme also helps to support students develop an entrepreneurial mindset for a wide range of career options.
The school has a developed ‘entrepreneurial ecosystem’, with nearly 50% of students engaging in activities including the Idea Hub and Idea Hack coming from the business school. Throughout the assessment period, students commented that the embedded ecosystem was incredibly helpful, and that they knew where to go if they wanted support with starting a business.
Local SMEs are involved in the design and delivery of the curriculum within the school; evidence provided to the panel showed SME involvement in 9 of the enterprise modules offered, alongside their involved in the Capstone Projects produced by final year students, which involve SMEs and entrepreneurship. Further to this, SMEs have also joined the Curriculum Advisory Board and act as panellists for student assessment pitches, often having provided the live briefs.
The Small Business Charter Award is a national accreditation, assessed by small business leaders, to recognise business schools which demonstrate excellence in supporting small businesses, student enterprise, and the local economy. London South Bank University Business School will hold the award for a further 3 years. There are 62 business schools that hold the SBC Award in the UK and Ireland.
Anne Kiem OBE, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter and Chief Executive of the Chartered Association of Business Schools, said:
“We congratulate London South Bank Business School for retaining their SBC status. They have continued to demonstrate the impact they make in supporting small businesses and student entrepreneurs in their local economy. The infrastructure the business school has to foster entrepreneurship and support start-ups is impressive. We look forward to seeing the ongoing impacts of their work proliferate their regional economy.”
Sarah Moore Williams, Dean of the London South Bank University Business School said:
“LSBU Business School is incredibly proud of our re-accreditation of the Small Business Charter. Our work delivering entrepreneurship programmes both in the curricular, and through CPD and professional programmes to entrepreneurs and SMES is something that we strive provide at the highest quality and aligns directly with the core values of our institution. Our re-accreditation is recognition of the quality and impact of our provision and the assessment criteria provides us with a strategic underpinning to drive forward our enterprise & entrepreneurship activity over the next three years.”