Bath Business School, part of Bath Spa University, has been shortlisted in the Business School of the Year category of the Times Higher Education Awards 2018.
It is the first time the Business School has been shortlisted for the awards – regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of Higher Education.
Bath Business School students take a range of specialist courses in business and management at the University’s Newton Park campus, covering topics from accounting to fashion, marketing to festivals and events.
Dean of the Bath Business School, Professor Georgina Andrews, said the nomination is the culmination of two years of developing a distinctive curriculum: “Unlike other Business Schools, we don’t run separate undergraduate courses for functions like marketing and HR.
“Instead, we offer a BA (Hons) course in Business and Management, with nine themed pathways.
“Our students complete interdisciplinary projects, open modules and joint honours programmes alongside other students on creative industry courses; this means not only are our business students particularly talented creative thinkers, they also have a deep understanding of the creative industries – a sector of the economy growing twice as fast as the UK economy as a whole.”
Bath Business School transformed its curriculum in 2016. A range of new courses and options were launched to all students, and over 330 elected to study modules that did not exist when they started their course, such as Entrepreneurship, and Festivals and Events.
Bath Business School students also complete authentic, real-life assessments that prepare them for the world of work and commerce.
In the last year:
- 90 students ran 18 live festivals and events, working with actors, musicians, poets and artists.
- 101 students pitched business ideas to panels of industry professionals.
- 66 students organised a business enterprise fair to raise money for charity.
- 90 students worked on HR management consultancy projects set by businesses.
Professor Andrews continued: “These real-life experiences have helped drive our post-study employment figures to record highs. Our graduates have been above benchmark for highly skilled employment or further study for the last two years.
“The results that we received in 2016 were 25% higher than the previous year, and our latest results were even higher.
“It’s been an exciting period of development, and I couldn’t be more delighted that the hard work of staff, and especially our students, is being recognised nationally.”
The winning business school will be announced at a ceremony in London on 29th November.
