Founded in 1996, Saïd School of Business of University of Oxford, UK, has today become a highly regarded business school with a reputation for innovative and impactful management education. The study of business and management was introduced to Oxford in 1965 with the foundation of the Oxford Centre for Management Studies which initially provided executive, graduate and later undergraduate courses. The School of Management Studies of the university was created in 1991, which later became Saïd Business School in 1996. It was named after its principle benefactor, WaficSaїd. In 2005, short courses for executive education, which were being provided by Templeton College at the university were transferred to Saїd Business School, bringing all the university’s business education together in one department.
In 2001, Saïd Business School’s award-winning building, designed by eminent architectural practice Dixon Jones, opened in the city centre 2001 as a result of a £23 million benefaction from businessman and philanthropist WaficSaïd. A new wing of the school was opened in late 2012 and was formally inaugurated by the Prince of Wales on February 4. It is to be named the Thatcher Business Education Centre and has won the 2013 RIBA National Award for architectural excellence. The School has a second site on the edge of the city of Oxford, EgrovePark. Built in 1967, in a modernist style, the building was designed specifically for executive education and has a combination of teaching, conference, residential, and recreational spaces.
Courses
Saïd offers a range of degrees, diplomas and short programmes for executives. The one-year full-time MBA is a diverse programme — in 2013, students from 43 countries had enrolled. It ranks number 24 in the Financial Times Global MBA ranking. The School recently launched Oxford 1+1MBA, a two-year programme pairing a specialist MSc degree with the Oxford MBA to offer subject depth plus management breadth to students. Other degree programmes include a 21-month modular executive MBA programme, MSc in law and finance, MSc in major programme management, BA in economics and management, MSc in financial economics, and Oxford DPhil (PhD) programme in management studies.
The Oxford diplomas in strategic management are a series of master’s-level qualifications that allows experienced executives to undertake high-level professional development and gain a postgraduate Oxford qualification whilst performing a senior-level role. The diplomas cover financial strategy, organisational leadership, strategy and innovation, and global business. The B-school also offers a range of open-enrollment executive education programmes in strategic leadership and management, finance and private equity, change management and global business, and develops custom-programmes to answer the specific needs of organisational clients.
USP
Says Peter Tufano, Dean of Saïd Business School and professor of finance, “The school’s community of academics, students, alumni, staff and friends is truly global and has representatives from all over the world and from different sectors. The convening power of Oxford brings heads of state, CEOs, Nobel laureates, brilliant young scholars, social entrepreneurs and senior policy makers, inventors and corporate recruiters and many more to the school and university. The School hosts a number of important and popular annual events, including Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford, a leading forum for technology and entrepreneurship, and the Skoll World Forum, focusing on social entrepreneurs. Throughout any year students have the opportunity to hear great thinkers from around the world speak at the school.”
Degree students are members of Oxford colleges where they mix with students and academics in all disciplines, broadening their network and strengthening their knowledge across disciplines as diverse as philosophy, classics, engineering and medicine. The school has a number of formal collaborations with other university departments, such as the successful programmes run with the Economics and Law faculties, and with the Oxford Man Institute, which bring together researchers from business, economics, maths, and computer science fields.
“Many of the faculty and alumni are at the forefront of their fields and provide intellectual leadership not only for businesses, but also for institutions such as the European Commission, the European Corporate Governance Institute, the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Indian Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, the UK’s Behavioural Insight Team, and the World Bank,” says Tufano.
Admissions
“We take a holistic approach when reviewing an applicant and look for a number of qualities and attributes to find those who are most likely to succeed at Oxford. So as well as reviewing the candidate’s academic background, work experience, test scores, essays, and post-MBA career plans, we will also look at soft skills such as the ability to work as a team, leadership potential, communication skills, and networking,” says Tufano.
Specific details at www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/programmes/degrees/mba/how-apply-mba. A number of scholarships are also awarded. The university also stresses on internships and other projects.
— shilpa.vasudevan@newindianexpress.com