Open University Business School Rewards Exceptional Students, Graduates And Tutors

The awards will celebrate the success and achievement of students and graduates who have all demonstrated their determination to succeed by studying for a qualification by one of the toughest study methods around – supported distance learning. They have studied in their own time, juggling academic studies with work and home life, to widen their knowledge and further their careers.

OUBS Dean Professor Roland Kaye said:

”All our students are exceptional and we are delighted to host this occasion to recognise their efforts and achievements. Our tutors and alumni are also very special people who invest a huge amount of time and effort in the school and it gives us great pleasure to recognise their dedication too.”

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:

• OUBS Student of the Year

• MBA Student of the Year, sponsored by the Chartered Management Institute

• CWE (Continental Western Europe) MBA Student of the Year, sponsored by Mark Latham

• The Ray Nelson Award for the Best Management Project

• Professional Diploma in Management Student of the Year and runner-up

• Derek Pugh Professional Certificate in Management Student of the Year and runner-up

• Tutor of the Year

• Alumnus of the Year

• Certificate in Accounting Student of the Year, sponsored by EQL International, and runner-up

• BA in Business Studies Student of the Year and runner-up

Professor Kaye said:

“We are delighted that organisations such as the Chartered Management Institute and EQL International are sponsoring awards. We thank them all for their support and involvement.”

The Guardian newspaper is the media partner for the awards and the award sponsors include:

• The Chartered Management Institute champions management as a discipline and shapes and supports the managers of tomorrow, helping them deliver results in a dynamic world. The Institute helps set and raise standards in management, encouraging development to improve performance and also provides in-depth research and regular policy surveys of its 93,000 individual members and 500 corporate members. The Chartered Management Institute came into being on 1 April 2002, as a result of the Institute of Management being granted a Royal Charter. Website: www.managers.org.uk

• Mark Latham, the OUBS agent in Germany, who is sponsoring the CWE MBA Student of the Year award in memory of his father, himself an Open University student.

• EQL International, a world-leading developer of e-learning and specialist online assessment company, which has established its dominance in the financial sector using in-house expertise to author and develop an advanced range of learning and examination materials. Website: http://www.eql.co.uk

Editor’s Notes

The awards evening will be held on Thursday May 22 at the Connaught Rooms in London.

Full details of the award winners will be circulated to the media after the event. Journalists interested in attending should contact Jessica Magill (see below) by Wednesday May 14.

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. 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

Contact details

OU Media Relations

Fiona Leslie

01908 653256

f.m.leslie@open.ac.uk

OUBS

Jessica Magill

01908 655042

j.magill@open.ac.uk