London South Bank University’s (LSBU) entrepreneurial vision has been recognised at the 2016 Times Higher Education Awards ceremony held at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, in front of an audience of 1,200 people, last Thursday 24 November.
The TES awards are widely regarded as the Oscars of the higher education sector for highlighting outstanding achievements of institutions, teams and individuals working in higher education across the UK.
The award for Entrepreneurial University of the Year celebrates the support offered to students, graduates, staff and the local community led by LSBU’s Research, Enterprise and Innovation team, based at the Clarence Centre for Enterprise and Innovation.
In 2014/15 LSBU supported 600 local SMEs, boosting growth and creating jobs. Enterprise activities offered by the Student Enterprise team have engaged over 10,000 students and staff, and supported 220 student and graduate business ideas this year.
The judging panel commending LSBU’s achievement, said:
“LSBU has demonstrated how a vision can be translated into action, within curricular activities and through the work of its staff and more widely across their local, national and international networks. We are particularly impressed by the number of students engaged, the breadth of enterprising activity the University is involved in and the depth of employer engagement. LSBU shows a truly entrepreneurial approach to its pivotal role in the community and academic endeavours.”
Commenting on the award, Professor David Phoenix, Vice Chancellor of LSBU, said:
“This is a fantastic accolade for LSBU and I am incredibly proud of what our staff and students have achieved.
“The importance of innovation and entrepreneurial education is going to be even more vital as we seek to increase productivity and grow the UK economy post-Brexit. At LSBU we will continue to inspire and support students to become what they want to be through our range of curricular and extra-curricular support and look forward to further strengthening our role as a driver for innovation in south London.”
Gurpreet Jagpal, LSBU’s Director of Research, Enterprise and Innovation, said:
“I’m delighted that all our hard work has been recognised at the Times Higher Education Awards. Working with LSBU academic staff across our seven schools and with our Entrepreneurs in Residence, we have created a culture of enterprise that is engaging an increasing number of students and graduates through our innovative projects and programmes. We are also driving business engagement through collaborative research projects with industry and supporting SMEs to grow and innovate to solve real world challenges. Congratulations to the team!”
A full list of winners is available on the Times Higher Education Awards website.
Read stories about LSBU entrepreneurs, Simon Powell and Martina Eco.