Business School wins prestigious award for diversity and inclusion

The Business School was recognised for the launch of a year-long equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) course which is essential for all students. The innovative ‘Working in Diverse Organisations’ initiative offers the latest EDI learnings and toolkits to enable students to be diverse-aware employees and leaders that are able to optimise differences and create more effective organisations.

The module involves the Business School’s whole community in its programming and delivery and forms a key part of the Business School’s evolving strategy to embrace diversity in all its forms.

The Best Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative is a new award introduced in 2021, which recognises business schools and the work they have been doing to create, incorporate and develop culture, diversity and inclusion practices into their communities while balancing and involving fair working environments.

The award reflects the growing need for business schools to adopt more innovative approaches to diversity and inclusion, as a multi-faceted approach to bias, cultural awareness and systems of privilege is demanded by both students and stakeholders.

Professor Francisco Veloso, Dean of Imperial College Business School said: “I’m delighted that Imperial has been recognised with this prestigious award. This is a very welcome recognition of our important commitment towards placing diversity at the forefront of our School strategy, ensuring that staff and students can benefit from working and studying in a more diverse-aware organisation.

“Whilst we have invested a lot in shaping our strategy, this is the beginning of a journey and we are aware that there is still plenty for us to learn and implement in this area. I’d like to congratulate my colleague Maria Farkas for leading our ‘Working in Diverse Organisations’ initiative and all those involved in our community who are helping shape the next generation of inclusive leaders.”

Imperial was also a finalist in the Best Innovation Strategy category for its approach to ensuring the smooth continuation of teaching in response to the COVID-19 pandemic – ‘A three-stage strategic response to the disruption in teaching provision due to the COVID-19 pandemic: stabilise, enhance and innovate’.

The AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards bring together leading players from the global business education community to celebrate excellence and commend achievement among business schools, business students and graduates, suppliers and employers.

This year’s virtual ceremony had 365 people registered to attend including business school leaders, category finalists, judges and members of the media.

The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is a global organisation which focuses primarily on international business school accreditation and membership.

The Business Graduates Association (BGA) is an international membership and accreditation body of world-leading business schools that share a commitment for responsible management practices and lifelong learning, and that are looking to provide a positive impact on their students, communities and the economy as a whole.