| Birmingham Business School | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1902 |
| Type | Business School |
| Location | Birmingham, England |
| Affiliations | University of Birmingham |
| Website | www.business.bham.ac.uk |
Birmingham Business School is the business school of the University of Birmingham in England, located in University House, a former hall of residence in Edgbaston which has been extensively refurbished and expanded to provide state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities.
Originally established as the School of Commerce in 1902, it is the oldest Business School in England.[1]
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In 1901, Sir William Ashley took the first Chair of Commerce at the school, where he fostered the development of its commercial programme. From 1902 until 1923 he served as first Professor of Commerce and Dean of the Faculty, which he was instrumental in founding. At the time it was England's first Faculty of Commerce, and a hundred years later there are over one hundred Business Schools in the UK; Birmingham can perhaps claim to be the ancestor of them all. Ashley said in 1902 that the aim of the new Faculty was the education not of the "rank and file, but of the officers of the industrial and commercial army: of those who, as principals, directors, managers, secretaries, heads of department, etc., will ultimately guide the business activity of the country."
In its first year, the annual costs of the Faculty, including staff salaries, were £8,200 - there were six students, a lecture room and two classrooms. By 1908, fifteen men had graduated from the School, many with businesses waiting for their skills. Ashley stated: "I quite expect that before I retire I shall be able to gather round me a room full of Managers and Managing Directors who have been students in the Faculty of Commerce." Over the past 100 years it is estimated that more than 15,000 students have passed successfully through the School.
The School has over 130 teaching and research staff delivering a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and tailor-made programmes to companies and senior management teams. The School is accredited by AMBA and EQUIS and has a postgraduate research community.
In 2002, the School celebrated its centenary and in March 2005 the School's new £20m home, University House, was officially opened by Sir Dominic Cadbury.
In 2008, the School expanded to include the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies and the Department of Economics. The 'new look' BBS now includes five academic departments, comprising: Management, Marketing, Accounting and Finance, Economics, and the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.
Recent research in the School has attracted widespread media attention, for example on the effects of the MG Rover collapse and the policy response to this (click here), led by Professor David Bailey.
The current Director of the School is David Dickinson. Previous directors have included Jonathan Michie, David Bailey, Peter Turnbull, John Samuels and Colin Rickwood.
The School has an International Advisory Board chaired by Lord Digby Jones of Birmingham.
In 2008 the School's MBA programme was ranked 67th best in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in their annual ranking of the Top 100 MBA programmes in the world, with the School 4th best in the world in terms of diversity of recruiters and 7th best in terms of student quality.
In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, the Birmingham Business School was submitted under the Business and Management Studies sub-panel, and 90% of research activity submitted by the School was rated as being of international standing.
Notable BBS alumni include Manchester United Chief Executive David Gill, and Professor David Bailey, Chair of the Regional Studies Association.