Pearson Business School accredited with the Small Business Charter

Pearson Business School has been awarded the Small Business Charter Award in recognition of its commitment to supporting small businesses, student entrepreneurship, and the local economy.

It is evident that the foundations of Pearson Business School are built solidly on facilitating engagement between SMEs and students. The school offers a guaranteed internship scheme, which allows students to take on a number of internships over the course of their studies, both with internal Start-ups in Residence (SiRs) and with external companies – 75% of these companies over the assessment period were SMEs, with a proportion of interns going on to secure employment at the end of their course. An internship bursary scheme is also offered by the school, to allow SMEs to fund the internships they run.

The school also offers the Work Fitness programme, which includes opportunities for students to develop employability skills, through a range of activities such as mock interviews, industry talks and attendance at careers fairs, with a large portion of businesses involved in the programme being SMEs.

The overall structure of Pearson Business School is such that there is continuous direct engagement between governors, academic staff and SMEs, which enables local businesses to benefit from ongoing support and development and provides support to the academic provision of the school.

Pearson Business School have a dedicated start-up space – companies who use the space commended the fact that faculty members were easily available for support. It is evident that Pearson Business School in its entirety is a small business enterprise centre, with many local SMEs often directed to PBS for support.

The panel were particularly impressed by the entrepreneurial support offered to students; the majority of Pearson Business School faculty have practical and current entrepreneurship experience, which allows them to offer extensive advice to students engaged in their own start-ups. Students spoke enthusiastically about the ease of access to the support they require, through a range of channels including Entrepreneurs in Residence, Start-ups in Residence and curriculum offering.

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. Pearson Business School will hold the award for 3 years. There are now 57 business schools that hold the SBC Award in the UK and Ireland.

Will Holt, Dean of Pearson Business School, said:

“Everybody at Pearson Business School is thrilled to have received accreditation to the Small Business Charter – it reflects the highly innovative work that we are doing to support SMEs and start-ups. I couldn't be prouder of our team and I'm extremely grateful to our SME community for their support in helping us to gain this accreditation.”

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

“We congratulate Pearson Business School on their Small Business Charter Award, given in recognition of their support for student entrepreneurship, small business and their local economy. It is clear that their commitment to greater entrepreneurial learning and practice is built into the very DNA of the school, and we hope we can look forward to welcoming them as one of the deliver partners for the government’s Help to Grow: Management Course.”