A personal welcome from the Dean,
Professor Sue Cox
Much more than a business school
“LUMS embraces the needs of all sectors – private, public and not-for-profit – and this is reflected in our research, teaching, student body, alumni, partners and clients. It's a wonderfully balanced and diverse school, rich with many perspectives.”
Professor Sue Cox, Dean
Exceptional people
Secondly, I was attracted by the exceptional quality of my new colleagues. One of my very first and most pleasant duties when I arrived was to congratulate them on their outstanding achievement in leading the UK research rankings yet again, putting LUMS in an elite group of two business schools (the other being London Business School) to have sustained research excellence over multiple research assessments spanning nearly two decades.
We are proud of the fact that LUMS' faculty also play a significant leadership role in many external contexts; chairing key committees and associations, editing leading journals, and influencing policy.
Yet despite the star achievements, my colleagues are very down-to-earth and approachable, a fact that sometimes surprises students who have experienced a different culture at their previous university. Students and applicants alike remark on the exceptional helpfulness and friendliness of our support staff: the admissions teams and others working in support of our programmes.
The Lancaster Leadership Centre
Innovative teaching
Another reason I was attracted to LUMS is its culture of innovation in programmes and teaching, something that is rooted in the founding mission of Lancaster University in the 1960s. LUMS is unusual in the range of disciplines contained within its boundaries, and even more unusual in the interdisciplinary collaboration between faculties in the University, and with partner schools around the world. People’s imaginations are fired by this creative juxtaposition of ideas, techniques and perspectives.
Developing leaders and their organisations
It is important to me that a management or business school plays a significant role outside its walls in helping the development of executives, leaders and their organisations, and I was extremely impressed by the range and quality of such activities at LUMS. The School’s commitment to and expertise at customised executive education and business support is a model of its kind, and has won us clients from many places across the UK and internationally. Our capability at partnering is critical to the success of these activities.
Rising reputation
PhD students in the Hub Café
Vibrant community
The final quality of LUMS that I want to highlight not only attracted me but many other colleagues to the School, and is in some ways the most important and distinctive. The School, and the wider University, is the most vibrant and supportive community, made up of its students, faculty, support staff, alumni and external partners. I have never worked anywhere where the sense of community is so tangible and striking, and the collegiality so spontaneous and warm. This is a special place, and we are beginning to recognise just how special, hence our claim that LUMS is much more than just a business school.
So if this is your first visit to our website, you are very welcome. A strong community Lancaster may be, but it is an open community keen to welcome new members, and our website is designed to make access easy. I hope that by spending time looking at examples of our activities you come to share my enthusiasm for LUMS, and decide to contact us. We look forward to getting to know you when you do.
