The reaccredited schools
These business schools were assessed by the SBC’s panel of 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:
Cardiff School of Management
University of Liverpool School of Management
Nottingham University Business School
Barney Roe, Interim 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 remains outstanding. We are delighted to continue working with these business schools as beacons of enterprise support and growth across the UK.”
Cardiff School of Management, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Cardiff School of Management has continued to maintain a strong profile with local businesses, national and local government and specific business sectors, including the tourism and food industries. The school has academics engaging with the Welsh government on policy in their areas of expertise and has collaborated with government departments to create large projects, such as the Circular Economy Innovation Communities, which provide significant SME support,.
The school’s approach to the SME market is supply driven, evidenced by the Leading Business Growth programme, which has run for a period of 7 years, and maintains an impressive reputation, having exceeded its targets and engaged with over 700 business leaders since its inception.
The School of Management’s Centre for Entrepreneurship supports a healthy community of student and graduate entrepreneurs, with a strong start-up reputation that links well to the school’s priorities. Further to this, the Enactus society within the school has proven itself to be a successful way of growing socially responsible and inspired entrepreneurship amongst students.
Professor David Brooksbank, Dean of Cardiff School of Management, said:
“Having become the first university in Wales to achieve Small Business Charter accreditation, we are immensely proud to have retained the Award for a further five years. Feedback on our application highlighted the way in which the whole university is united behind our mission to help small businesses across the region and reflected the quality of support Cardiff Met provides to the business community. I am confident that the Small Business Charter will serve as a badge of excellence to open new funding opportunities to support our transformational leadership training programmes aimed at helping Welsh SMEs prosper and grow.”
University of Liverpool Management School
The University of Liverpool Management School has continued to provide a range of programmes aimed at developing SMEs, including the Growth Catalyst, Made Smarter and the Help to Grow: Management Course. SMEs have established ongoing relationships with the school, many of whom have enrolled on more than one programme, and are now contributing to the school, through activities such as mentorship for students, business breakfasts, guest lectures and monthly entrepreneurs meet ups.
The school offers several modules and courses where SMEs act as mentors to small groups of students; this includes the Entrepreneurship module, which has engaged over 200 students in mentoring, delivered by over 25 SMEs.
ULMS provides a comprehensive programme of extracurricular start-up support and funding to support student and graduate entrepreneurship. This is delivered jointly by the central Careers and Employability team, the ULMS Entrepreneur in Resident, and the Careers and Employability innovation coach.
Professor Julia Balogun, Dean of the Management School, said:
“We are delighted that we have received reaccreditation from the Small Business Charter, which recognises our excellence in teaching and research to support business and enterprise.”
Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham
Nottingham University Business School has maintained its commitment to supporting SME growth, through initiatives such as its Ingenuity Lab, which has supported nearly 100 SMEs since its inception, and its Ingenuity Programme, a nationally recognised programme which leads a network of 36 other delivery partners.
The school has a strong track record of engaging with government agencies and other authorities on business support strategy, and has well defined goals for supporting SMEs and student start-ups. Throughout the pandemic, NUBS was particularly active in delivering crisis support to local SMEs, hosting a series of Covid-19 response webinars. Further to this, they launched their Accelerator Programme, the ‘Pitch to Win’ competition, wellbeing workshops and more.
NUBS have taken on the responsibility of leading the wider university’s relationship with the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce, and is a founding sponsor of the Chamber’s ‘Generation Next’ initiative, which aims to support approximately 300 Chamber companies led by leaders under the age of 35. The school also has a number of high-profile SME leaders, and has strong local, regional and national connections to small business leaders and entrepreneurial networks.
Professor Todd Landman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham, said:
“The renewal of the Small Business Charter accreditation for five years is a fantastic achievement for the Nottingham University Business School. The School is particularly pleased with the recognition in the renewal that our work on entrepreneurship and innovation is not only hugely successful, but also highly inclusive in its approach to supporting student start-up companies and other small to medium-sized enterprises which enjoy the support, knowledge, and expertise from many colleagues across the School.”