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 – all small business leaders themselves - and have continued to demonstrate outstanding work in supporting student entrepreneurship, small businesses, and their local economies. The schools are:
Newcastle Business School
Stirling Management 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 attaining their reaccreditations. The work that these schools do is vital in supporting small businesses and 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 with the imminent roll out of the Help to Grow: Management Course.”
Newcastle Business School
Newcastle Business School offers high-quality support for SMEs in the city-region, as evidenced through their innovative Incubator facility which has assisted 395 businesses to date. More than half of the start-ups initially helped by the Incubator are continuing to trade after three years. The Incubator has also directly supported the creation of over 1,000 jobs and the generation of an £84 million turnover within the North East region.
Run by final year undergraduates and postgraduate students, the school’s Business Clinics provide pro-bono consultancy services for SMEs in the region. Since 2013, this initiative has provided services worth £1.2 million.
Newcastle Business School has successfully retained the SBC Award for a further 5 years, with the Incubator and Business Clinic initiatives being awarded exemplar status.
Professor John Wilson, Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Business and Law at Newcastle Business School said:
“In 2015, we became the first university in the North East to receive the Small Business Charter accreditation, and we are proud to have achieved this award for a further five years. Gaining the maximum score in our reassessment is also a stand-out achievement that reflects the quality of support Newcastle Business School provides to the North East business community and the significant contribution we are making regionally as we build back stronger from Covid-19.”
Stirling Management School
Stirling Management School have recently reviewed their vision and mission, with a renewed focus on entrepreneurship and growth, evidenced by their feature-rich Enterprise Programme. Further to this, Stirling have recently refreshed their Advisory Board, recruiting new members to provide guidance and support, including high profile entrepreneurs.
Stirling Management School have continued to engage with small businesses as part of the Scale Up Scotland (SUS) initiative. As part of the SUS, they have established the Scale Up Regional Growth and Entrepreneurship (SURGE) research group. Through SURGE, the school will coordinate various research projects designed to work with, and for, SMEs. This initiative will also enable SMEs and entrepreneurs to feed into the Management School’s work.
The assessor panel were impressed by Stirling’s appointment of a new Entrepreneur–in–Residence and their involvement in the launch of two new postgraduate pathways relating to entrepreneurship.
Stirling Management School has successfully retained the SBC Award for a further 3 years.
Professor Kevin Grant, Dean of Stirling Management School said:
“Stirling Management School has benefited greatly from the recognition of our work with entrepreneurs and small business through the Small Business Charter. The accreditation is a clear signal of our strategic focus and facilitates our engagement in a range of business support activities and encouragement of student entrepreneurship. This includes the important contribution of the entrepreneurs on our International Advisory Board and Entrepreneur in Residence programme. We have also benefited from the links with other SBC-accredited schools. We look forward to continuing to work closely with these schools, entrepreneurs, small businesses and with the SBC.”
The Small Business Charter Award provides recognition to business schools that play an effective role in support small businesses, local economies, and student entrepreneurship. 33 UK business schools currently hold the Small Business Charter Award.