Herts Business School reaccredited to Small Business Charter
SBC is a national accreditation, assessed by an expert panel of small business leaders and academics, to recognise business schools who demonstrate excellence in supporting small businesses, student enterprise, and the local economy.
The award recognises Herts’ outstanding work in supporting local economic growth, through its sector-leading engagement and experiential education with and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and student entrepreneurs.
The five-year reaccreditation confirms Hertfordshire Business School met all 25 assessment dimensions assessed by the Small Business Charter and the Chartered Association of Business Schools, achieving success across every area evaluated and supported by colleagues from the Enterprise Team, Degree Apprentice team, and Employer Engagement team.
The assessment panel’s report commended the School’s deep engagement with business, stating: “Hertfordshire Business School is a strong and impressive business school that places the interests of small firms at the core of its mission.”
Professor Damian Ward, Dean of Hertfordshire Business School, said:
“Being reaccredited for the full five-year term with the Small Business Charter is fantastic news. It reflects how Hertfordshire Business School has become an integral part of the regional business community, helping companies to start up, grow and thrive.
“Knowledge exchange between our experts and industry has already provided over £1.7 million worth of expertise and support to businesses. Working alongside our extremely strong network of partners and colleagues, we have helped to support more than 640 regional SMEs to strengthen their workforce through our graduate placements, apprenticeships, internships, Business Academy network and accessible CPD opportunities. A further 459 of our students are in incubation support for their business ideas.’
The University has worked with key collaborative partners Exemplas Ltd, Herts Growth Hub, Herts’ Futures, Herts Chamber of Commerce, Herts Local Economic Development team and Rothamsted Enterprises, underpinning its engagement with the region’s SMEs.
The University’s Enterprise Team and Business School have played a leading role supporting regional SMEs, through its Enterprise Hub and startup programmes to initiatives such as the Herts Sustainability Accelerator and its Help to Grow: Management course. They also nurture entrepreneurship through events like the annual Flare competition, which helps students and graduates develop viable business ventures.
Professor Ward added: “It is these SME partnerships that provide opportunities for our students across the East of England, the UK and even globally to build skills and prepare for the world of work. It unites their academic excellence, with industry relevance in a structured, skills-based curriculum with experiential learning - learning by doing. Our business partnerships help students apply theory in real business contexts and build the professional behaviours employers value most.
“Our success is reflected in student satisfaction rates that are well above the sector’s average.”
Hertfordshire Business School achieved an overall student positivity score above 88% in the National Student Survey, significantly outperforming the sector average of 83.6%.
Flora Hamilton, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter and CEO of the Chartered Association of Business Schools, said:
“We are pleased to reaccredit Hertfordshire Business School with the Small Business Charter. The business school has shown a clear commitment to supporting small businesses as a core part of its mission and plays an active role within the regional ecosystem. We look forward to continuing to work with the school to strengthen engagement with SMEs and to support innovation and growth across the UK.”
Read more about the Small Business Charter. Learn more about Hertfordshire Business School.