The Henley Business School at the University of Reading is an English triple accredited business school. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College, formerly the Administrative Staff College, with the existing business school of the University of Reading. As a result of the merger with the University of Reading, it now occupies two sites: Greenlands Campus, near the town of Henley on Thames in south Oxfordshire, the original site of the Henley Management College, and Whiteknights Campus in Reading.
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1945-1981: During World War II, the idea that of leadership as a natural gift was questioned thanks to the experiences of a number of businessmen. Thus, the Administrative Staff College was set up in 1945 at Henley-on-Thames as the civilian equivalent of the Military Staff Colleges. At that time this was an appropriate title because administration was defined as the highest form of management. Over the years, it has become known as Henley. It offered short courses in problems of advanced management. The College was offered the use of Greenlands by the 3rd Viscount Hambledon in 1946, and was bought outright from the family in 1952. In its formative years, the College was influenced by the management consultant and writer Lyndall Urwick, the academic Hector Hetherington, and the businessman Geoffrey Heyworth (later Baron Heyworth); its curriculum was designed by its first Principal, Noel Hall. From the beginning, its intention was to bring together executives from the civil service, private business and nationalised industries to help develop their skills for promotion to senior management. The success of the College led to the establishment of several administrative staff colleges around the world. By the early 1960s, a network of staff colleges modelled on Henley had been transplanted to Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua and New Guinea, and later to Bangladesh, Ghana and the Philippines.
1981-2008: In 1981, the College changed its name from its original title to Henley - The Management College. This was changed again to the Henley Management College when it was awarded a Royal Charter in 1991. By 2002, the College was also one of the very few in the world to achieve triple accredited status (AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS). The historic campus of the College has been located since its inception on the banks of the river Thames at Greenlands, on the outskirts of Henley-on-Thames. A former home of the WH Smith family, the Greenlands campus is part of a country estate, and continues to serve as the home to the Henley MBA and corporate learning activities after the College's merger with the University of Reading.
2008-date: In 2008, the Henley Management College merged with the University of Reading to form the Henley Business School as one of the world’s largest full-service business schools. It consists of: the School of International Business and Strategy; School of Organisation and Behaviour; School of Marketing and Relationships; School of Business Informatics, Systems and Accountancy which includes the Informatics Research Centre; the School of Real Estate & Planning; the ICMA Centre; and Executive Education Programmes. While the Henley MBA and corporate learning activities are offered from the Greenlands campus, all undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD courses of the Henley Business School are offered from the Whiteknights campus of the University of Reading. A former country estate of the Marquis of Blandford, the 130 hectare Whiteknights campus is made of conservation meadows, rare tree collection and a large lake. Since 2009, the School functions out of a new purpose-built building in Whiteknights, with facilities for lectures, conferences and visitors.
At its Greenlands campus, the Henley Business School offers its flagship Henley MBA for executive managers, in addition to corporate and executive education programmes which attract programme members from approximately 100 countries. The Henley MBA targets experienced, practicing managers hoping to enhance their leadership skills or prepare for a senior management position; the average age of programme members is 38 years. It is offered in full-time (12 months), executive (2 years) and distance learning (3 years) modes to suit the needs and time commitment of each programme member. The Henley Executive MBA in Project Management is only offered under the distance learning mode.
The Henley Business School offers its undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes from its Whiteknights campus. 30 different programmes for undergraduates (BA/BSc) and postgraduates (MA/MSc) are offered in economics, finance and investment, management, and real estate and planning. It also offers PhD and DBA programmes in all these areas.
The Henley Business School is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) as well as the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS). Its MBA and DBA programmes are also accredited by the Association of MBAs (AMBA), making these programmes triple accredited since 2002. The School's predecessor Henley Management College was awarded a Royal Charter in 1991 in recognition of its quality, and the Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2006 recognition of its international activities.
As the largest triple accredited supplier of MBA education in the world, and the third largest overall, Henley is a leading international business school, consistently ranked among the very best MBA providers. For instance, the flexible and full-time MBA programmes have been ranked in the world's top 10 and 20 programmes respectively by the Economic Intelligence Unit (2008). The executive MBA programme has been ranked top 5 in the UK and top 50 worldwide by the Financial Times (2008). In terms of career progression, the Financial Times has ranked it first in the UK and fifth in the world.
Historically, the Henley Management College has been very strong in management research and curriculum development. For instance, Meredith Belbin's well known research on team roles was originally conducted at the College upon students attending courses there. In recent years, Henley has been consistently rated among the UK's top business Schools based on research output and performance. Henley's over 150 full-time and associate faculty members include some of the globe's foremost experts spanning a broad range of fields within business and management, from HRM to marketing, strategic management to international business.
Post-merger, the newly formed Henley Business School has been reported to have reduced its dependence on executive education and corporate business, and increased its research emphasis and scope. Income from these executive/corporate programmes, reported to be about £10m a year, is currently only a quarter of the new business school's income, so the significant additional income and investment from the University of Reading are being used to strengthen its academic research activities. Currently, the School attracts PhD candidates and research associates from over 30 countries, and is in fact the largest producer of DBA graduates in Europe.
At any given time, Henley has around 7,000 students and programme members from more than 140 countries (directly or through its affiliates), ranging from the UK and Europe to Asia and Africa, from North and South America to Australasia. As the oldest business school in the UK, its growing alumni network features over 35,000 members.
Henley has several affiliate campuses around the world. Each local campus could vary in what it offered, with each having some local customisation. A number of countries have a full local campus, with local teaching staff and local accreditation (the Henley Management College, South Africa, for example). A number of others, which Henley lists as countries they serve, have an office without local instructors. Students in those countries must either travel abroad or use the distance learning mode to complete their degrees.
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