The Small Business Charter, an award bringing together world-class business schools and SME communities across the UK, is pleased to announce that University College London (UCL) has been upgraded to a Gold Award after a rigorous assessment.
UCL was amongst a pioneering group of 20 business schools to be first given a Small Business Charter award in June 2014 in recognition of their expertise, resources and consultancy given to support start-ups and small businesses. The upgrade reflects the thoroughness demonstrated by UCL in providing world-class expertise.
University business schools which have received Small Business Charter awards have already directly helped over 18,750 small businesses – working with them through a range of support including on-site incubators with dedicated space for students and small businesses to start up and grow The schools also provide dedicated Small Business Growth & Leadership programmes and strong full time support networks of alumni and local business experts supporting both students and small businesses.
Dave Chapman, Deputy Director of UCL School of Management said:
"We are delighted that the UCL has received a Gold Small Business Charter award. This recognises the high-quality expert advice and training that UCL offers to help small and medium sized businesses grow and achieve their full potential."
Timothy Barnes, Director of UCL Advances said:
"The Small Business Charter was developed to recognise the work of universities in supporting small businesses in their communities. Receiving the Gold Small Business Charter award is a significant statement in support of UCL's efforts to maximise economic impact and the importance we place on helping all of society to benefit from our knowledge and capabilities."
Ian McNaught, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter, said:
"The Small Business Charter management board is delighted to upgrade University College London's (UCL) Small Business Charter Award to a Gold award recognising UCL's continuous commitment in supporting SME mature growth, complemented by its world class impact. UCL has demonstrated its ability to be pioneering and transformative with their offering to students and small businesses. The Small Business Charter Gold award recognises UCL's wide provision of effective mature growth support for SMEs, with enterprise at the heart of the institution.”