2016: quite the year

As we draw near to a time of year when people traditionally reflect on what the current year has brought and what the next may bring, Associate Principal and Executive Dean of Strathclyde Business School, David Hillier, looks at what 2016 has meant to SBS.

This year will be one to remember for many different reasons. Here at Strathclyde Business School we have been busy analysing and commenting on the political changes of 2016 and their impact on business via our renowned Fraser of Allander Institute, through academic articles on this very blog, and expert commentary in the media.

Academics across the business school have been called on to provide expert viewpoints not only on the major events in 2016 but on more general business issues, such as the Living Wage, innovative workplaces, entrepreneurship, and the Scottish economy.

Our students have got involved too, arranging events to reflect current business issues under the banner of the student-run Strathclyde Business Network.

I’m proud to see what successes our students and staff achieve week in, week out, and 2016 has been exemplary for this, but as we near the end of this year, we at Strathclyde Business School have one particular reason to celebrate this year as one to remember - for all the right reasons.

As a school, we’re delighted to share the news that Strathclyde was named ‘Business School of the Year’ at the Times Higher Education Awards 2016 on November 24 in London.

The Times Higher Education (THE) Award was given to us for our outstanding overall performance and our innovative and entrepreneurial outlook

The Business School of the Year award was for the business school which demonstrated ‘the most outstanding overall performance during the 2014-15 academic year’. Evidence had to be shown of performance against indicators such as innovation, teaching, research, student experience, alumni relations and development. Judges looked at how each business school had built partnerships with the business community and the benefits this had brought to both sides.

We are delighted with this award as it recognised what we aim to do - build strong and enduring links with the business community which help both business and the business school flourish.

This year also saw us achieve the Small Business Charter Gold Award. This recognises our world-leading support for scaling Scottish firms through innovation and leadership. With a reputation as an innovative business school, we work collaboratively with business to ensure we continue to be just that.

These two awards reflect the fact that industry engagement is built in to all our programmes. We have introduced new Masters programmes this year to reflect the changing business world, and our executive education programmes are created in partnership with individual companies to ensure our programmes perfectly suit the needs of their business.

Our first cohort of the Growth Advantage Programme, unique to Scotland, graduated this year and a second cohort is underway. This programme was designed to deliver practical learning for the leaders of ambitious businesses looking to scale up - with great success for the companies involved.

We have also been placed highly in rankings such as the Financial Times and the Economist. Most recently the FT ranked us in the top European business schools, with Strathclyde ranking in the top 10 of UK schools ranked, and number one in Scotland.

This year we are also celebrating 50 years of our renowned MBA programme and 20 years of our international partnership in Greece – just one of our 8 international centres - while we were also delighted to see the re-opening of our state-of-the-art building which has been transformed with a £23 million investment.

How well we have done this year is testimony to the hard work and dedication of all our Business School staff, students, alumni and business partners. Together, we continue to be a pioneering institution of global standing within a leading international technological university.

I hope you’ll agree this has been a year of good news for the extended Strathclyde family and I’m delighted to take this opportunity to share it. I’d also like to take the opportunity to wish you an enjoyable festive break and extend our best wishes for the New Year to you from everyone at Strathclyde Business School.

About David Hillier

David Hillier is Executive Dean and Professor of Finance at the University of Strathclyde Business School. He is the author of the largest franchise of Finance textbooks outside of the US and his specialist areas include insider trading, corporate governance, corporate finance and pensions.