Saïd Business School lifted the Business School of the Year trophy at this year’s Times Higher Education Awards.
These awards, now in their 13th year and widely recognised as the “Oscars of higher education”, shine a spotlight on the exceptional achievements of individuals, teams and institutions.
Jonathan Reynolds, Deputy Dean at Oxford Saïd accepted the trophy from Dr Atul Chauhan, Chancellor Amity University who sponsored the Best Business School category. ‘We’re thrilled to receive this award,’ said Jonathan. ‘It represents the efforts of the entire Oxford Saïd community: our students, staff, faculty, alumni and supporters. We’re a young school with an eye to the future and a sense of purpose, and as we’re celebrating our 21st year, this is a great coming of age present.’
The judges were impressed by the scope of activities at Oxford Saïd in the area of responsible business and applauded the school’s ‘formidable record’ of research that has contributed to the study of happiness and well-being in the workplace for the UN World Happiness Report, and explored how corporations can work in ways that benefit themselves and wider society in projects done in conjunction with Mars and the Ford Foundation. They were particularly impressed by the Global Opportunities and Threats: Oxford programme, where students and faculty work together to tackle major issues affecting businesses and society.
The gala ceremony took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London. Winners were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges, from hundreds of entries submitted by universities from all corners of the UK.
Commenting on the awards THE editor John Gill said: ‘At a time when discussion about universities is too often reduced to terms of economic impact and output alone, the stories behind the winning entries this year tell a far richer story. Universities remain crucial to the health and well-being of the country, as well as to its prosperity, and anyone who doubts that – or who thinks that excellence is the preserve of one segment of our system – need only read about our winners to see the evidence with their own eyes.’