Saïd Business School

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The Saïd Business School has one of the most modern of the dreaming spires of Oxford

Saïd Business School (SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford in England. It is the University's centre of learning for graduate and undergraduate students in business, management and finance.

1 Degree programmes
2 Reputation
3 History
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Degree programmes

Saïd's main degree programmes are its one-year MBA programme, the 21-month executive MBA and the one-year Masters in Financial Economics (MFE) programme. It also offers an MSc in Management Research, two DPhil programmes in Financial Economics and Management Research, two MEng programmes and – jointly with the Department of Economics – a top-ranked undergraduate programme in Economics and Management.

[edit] Reputation

The MBA programme was ranked 19th worldwide and 3rd in the UK in the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2007, being the second highest ranked one-year MBA programme in the UK. In 2005, the MBA accepted 225 students, and the MFE 70 students. Application for the programmes of the school is strongly selective — for the 2006/2007 student intake, the BA Economics & Management course overtook Medicine as the most competitive undergraduate place in the University, with only 11% of candidates being offered a place.^{[citation needed]} SBS is one of Europe's fastest-growing management schools (with the annual student intake of the MBA increasing by 36% in 2006 despite a downturn in the global demand for MBA courses^[1]).

[edit] History

A bust of Wafic Saïd in Saïd Business School, Oxford.

The Oxford Centre for Management Studies (OCMS) was founded in 1965. It was the precursor to both what is now Saïd Business School and to Templeton College, the University's business-focused postgraduate college. Initially, OCMS was an "associate institution" of the University, providing executive, graduate and later undergraduate courses in Management Studies. OCMS was renamed Templeton College in 1983, and the University of Oxford School of Management Studies was created in 1991, taking over the undergraduate and graduate degree courses from the college ^[2] Saïd Business School was formed in 1996 out of the School of Management Studies.

The new business school building was completed in 2001 with a £23 million benefaction from Syrian businessman Wafic Saïd. The building includes an amphitheatre and the Sainsbury Library, and was designed by Edward Jones and Sir Jeremy Dixon. It was built on the site of Oxford Rewley Road railway station. The opening on 5 November 2001 was accompanied by protests by students mainly because of the controversial nature of Wafic Saïd's donation (his wealth is partly derived from advising on multiple armament contracts between the UK and Saudi-Arabia, in particular the Al Yamamah contract^[3]).

Since 2005, SBS also runs Oxford University's business executive education programme (formerly run by Templeton College).

As part of the development of executive education, the school will be constructing an additional building on the Park End Street site (also designed by Dixon and Jones). Wafic Saïd has agreed to donate a further £15 million to fund the building, as part of a matching gift with full naming rights for the new building being granted to an as yet unnamed donor who will provide the remaining funds for the building.