Introduction to Cranfield School of Management

Building on its long-standing reputation as a premier brand business school, Cranfield School of Management in the UK is increasingly gaining international recognition for its contribution to management practice and business achievement. The School's management development activities include research, postgraduate degree programmes, research degrees, executive courses (open and tailored), and consultancy; and all are characterised by a mission dedicated to rendering them both academically rigorous, and also useful to practising managers.

The School's flagship programme is the MBA, which is ranked as one of the best one-year programmes and which provides a sound, broad-based management qualification. It is distinguished by the calibre of its diverse student body: with an average age of 31 and eight years in business, the students enrich each others' learning experience. The students are selected to work in small learning teams representing maximum breadth of nationality and background. The part-time and modular study options (for managers who wish to combine continuing in their current job with their studies) also emphasise working in a sustained study group, which for all the programmes helps the balance between gaining knowledge, and personal development. Cranfield students overall have one of the highest average GMAT scores in Europe. On leaving the School they join a network of 8,500 managers in 96 countries around the world - many of them directors and CEOs - linked by an active management association.

Whilst boasting one of the longest established MBA programmes in the UK (the programme dates back to the early 1960s) the School's strong links with business make it one of the most innovative. One important way Cranfield stays ahead of the field is by harnessing the latest technology for students' benefit, including imaginative use of intra- and internet systems, and access to external sources via the School's "virtual library". All MBAs are given a personal laptop for their year of study, loaded with appropriate software. The "e-revolution" is having the most profound effect on every facet of society - so the School is promoting understanding of, and developing expertise in, e-business through research and other e-business and in-company courses. When it launched CranfieldCreates.com, the School became the first in Europe to assist MBAs in setting up Internet-based businesses as part of their studies.

Cranfield is not only known for its MBA but also for other management development programmes. As well as offering one of the largest portfolios of open courses in the world, Cranfield tailors management development for companies around the globe: Microsoft, DHL International, Visa International, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Boeringer Mannheim are just a few examples. This activity gives faculty ongoing contact with managers and organisations, and this informs their MBA teaching. This dynamic interaction keeps the programme up-to-the-minute and in touch with the issues that are crucially important to managers today and tomorrow.

Helping managers work effectively in the global environment is a top priority at Cranfield - and the School's international focus is emphasised, for example, by the multicultural mix of faculty and students (54% of full-time MBA students are from overseas); faculty assignments abroad; and partnerships and exchanges with other business schools and organisations across the world. Findings from international research projects (commissioned by governments and organisations large and small, public and private) feed into all areas of the School's work.

Cranfield School of Management is well represented in the higher echelons of the various rankings, but its reputation is most firmly grounded in the testimony of the countless individuals and organisations for whom it helps to set goals - and supports in their work to achieve them.

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