Himalayas Mountaineers To Take OUBS To New Heights
The School, the largest in Europe, is one of the sponsors of the British Services Makalu Expedition 2004, in which 14 Service mountaineers will climb the South East Ridge of Makalu – at 8,463m the world’s fifth highest mountain. Sponsorship of the project is a key example of the School’s commitment to the development of leadership skills in general and to team leadership skills in particular.
The team, which will make the climb during the Himalayan pre-monsoon season from now to June, will be attempting to reach the summit without the use of bottled oxygen and with minimal Sherpa support. It’s a route that has been successfully climbed by only three teams; it remains unclimbed by a British team.
For those following the progress of the team via its website at www.makalu2004.com, the Open University Business School logo will be difficult to miss. It will be displayed on the team’s clothing and windsuits and on the team’s supply barrels, in which it will transport its equipment.
The team will be led by Squadron Leader Colin Scott, who was joined by other team members for the pre-expedition launch at the Royal Geographical Society yesterday (Tuesday, March 16).
Prof Roland Kaye, Dean of the OUBS, said that he was delighted that the School was among the expedition’s sponsors. “This expedition is an ambitious one which will require of its participants many of the traits that thousands of our students display in their studies – those of endeavour, enterprise, determination and perseverance.”
Wishing the expedition team the best of luck, he added: “As Europe’s largest business school, the OUBS is proud to fly the flag for the UK in the business education sector. We are equally pleased to be able to help the mountaineers of this expedition fly the flag for Britain in this impressive project.”
The expedition is also sponsored by Logica CMG, NSSL Satcom Solutions and NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes).
EDITOR’S NOTES
The Open University Business School (OUBS) is Europe’s leading business school and the major provider of management development programmes delivered by supported distance learning. It is one of an elite group of UK and European business schools to hold both the prestigious EQUIS quality kitemark, awarded by the European Foundation for Management Development (efmd), and AMBA (the Association of MBAs) accreditation for its MBA. The School is ranked fourth in the world for distance learning MBA programmes, according to rankings published by the Financial Times (March 2003).
Currently the OUBS has 30,000 students based in the UK and more than 40 countries. Since its inception in 1983, more than 150,000 managers have studied an OUBS course at Certificate, Diploma or MBA level. The OUBS has also developed a significant research capability based in eight research units, and boasts one of the three largest Alumni Associations for MBA graduates outside the United States.The School is based at the Open University’s Milton Keynes headquarters in Buckinghamshire. Its website can be found at: oubs.open.ac.uk
MEDIA CONTACT
Neil Coaten
Open University Media Relations
01908 652580
07901 515891
n.d.coaten@open.ac.uk
