Oxford Saïd Appoints 6 New Faculty Members
In early July, Oxford University’s Saïd Business School announced six new faculty appointments with a range of teaching and research expertise. The new faculty come from a variety of backgrounds including gender diversity, sustainability, real estate, and more. Each new faculty member will join the school to engage in innovative research, scholarship, and academic excellence.
A recent press release from the school introduced the six new faculty members to the Oxford Saïd community. We recently had the privilege of interviewing three of the new appointments to gain additional insight. Continue reading…
Oxford Saïd Dean, Together with Apple’s Tim Cook, Launches New Entrepreneurial Hub
Building on the success of Saïd Business School’s Oxford Launchpad and Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Oxford University has launched a new entrepreneurial hub: the Oxford Foundry. Saïd Dean Peter Tufano and Apple CEO Tim Cook helped kick things off at an October 11 launch event.
The new student-led and student-centric hub will be open to all 23,000 Oxford students and is part of an effort to inspire campus-wide innovation. Its focus will be to help students develop their entrepreneurial skills as well as create and scale ventures.
The Oxford Foundry will welcome students from all academic disciplines, from engineering and medicine to history and business. The goal is to take these students from all different backgrounds and bring them together to learn from one another, generate new ideas, and tackle business and societal issues.
In particular, the new hub will support students in the three following ways:
- Community Building: The Oxford Foundry will draw inspirational and leading figures in the entrepreneurial world to speak to students and exchange ideas. It will also have a student advisory board and will partner with societies across the university including the 10,000-strong Oxford Entrepreneurs.
- Experiential Learning: The Oxford Foundry will host problem-solving competitions and workshops to help students put various skills and ideas to work.
- Start-Up Support: Each year, a select number of ventures will receive support including dedicated workspace, access to networks, and industry expertise to scale and start their ventures.
Oxford has a strong history of entrepreneurship and has produced more founders of “unicorn” businesses (worth $1 billion or more) than any other school in Europe. The new Oxford Foundry promises to only further strengthen this entrepreneurial community.
A look inside the new Oxford Hub.
“Entrepreneurship is of increasing importance to students. As a generation, millennials desire to be more socially responsible, innovative and to make an impact,” Oxford Foundry Director Ana Bakshi said in a university press release. “Whether starting their own ventures or aspiring to lead in organizations, the Oxford Foundry will develop students’ entrepreneurial skills, understanding, and self-efficacy. The aim is to create future leaders whatever career they pursue.”
The Oxford Foundry spans two floors in a renovated Victorian ice factory. It offers co-working space, presentation areas, a café, and incubator space for accelerating new ventures.
To learn more about the Oxford Foundry, visit the school website.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
Oxford Saïd Launches New Virtual Hub
The Oxford Hub for International Virtual Education (HIVE) is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom and the second of its kind in the world. Located at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School, the new virtual classroom will use technology to connect students, faculty, and participants from around the world. It’s the latest development in the school’s digital agenda.
HIVE is a physical room with 27 high-definition screens shaped in a U. The technology—developed by SyncRTC and operated by the Mashme.io software—will allow up to 84 participants to engage with each other at one time. It’s far more advanced than traditional conferencing platforms. The software uses robotics along with facial recognition technology and 4D high-definition projections to create an immersive experience for both learners and teachers.
Oxford Saïd plans to use the HIVE in many ways, for everything from classes to pitching competitions. It will be especially useful for connecting faculty and students around the globe. Teachers will be able to address participants individually, split users into groups, conduct polls, and more. It’s a fully immersive experience that allows all participants to see and hear one another. Not only that, the software monitors the attentiveness of each individual and provides a score for them at the end based on their facial expressions and engagement with the class.
A look inside the Oxford HIVE
“While the Oxford experience is an integral part of our approach, the methods by which we teach and learn are changing,” Saïd Dean Peter Tufano said in a press release. “At Oxford Saïd we’ve been making decisive investments so we can learn about new pedagogies. The Oxford HIVE will allow us to teach, learn, and share ideas as a global community, and we see it as a crucial tool to unite our global community in support of our mission to tackle world scale challenges.” He added that it will also allow alumni to gather virtually as if they were on campus in Oxford.
“In a hive, bees work to make honey. At the Oxford HIVE, we will work to build knowledge,” Tufano said.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
Oxford Saïd Offers 6 New MBA Scholarships
Earning an MBA from a leading program typically isn’t cheap. In fact, the average cost of an MBA when you total tuition and living expenses is between $100,000 to $200,000 for two years. For that reason, MBA scholarships can be invaluable for many candidates, and now the University of Oxford Saïd Business School is offering six new scholarship opportunities for incoming MBA students. Continue reading…
Oxford Saïd Expands New Global Council & Responsible Business Forum
Like many leading MBA programs in the global arena, the University of Oxford Saïd Business School is continually working to enhance its opportunities for students, professors and alumni. Most recently, the school expanded its global reach with the establishment of a new Global Leadership Council, which has the goal of advancing the school’s business education model. In addition, the second annual Responsible Business Forum provided a platform for the next generation of business leaders to address social and environmental issues.
Both the Council and the Forum brought together global companies and educational stakeholders to support the development of mutually beneficial relationships. Continue reading…
The Potential Impact of Brexit on U.K. Business Schools
British Prime Minister Theresa May plans to invoke Article 50 of the European Union Lisbon Treaty on March 29th—triggering the United Kingdom’s two-year process of exiting the bloc of nations it has been part of for four decades. Given this, it seems a good time to look at the impact of Brexit on U.K. schools. According to a 2017 GMAC Brexit-U.S. Survey, 45 percent of respondents claimed that Brexit would make them less likely to study in the United Kingdom. But what does that figure mean? Are U.K. schools expecting fewer applications from top international talent, or is everything well? Continue reading…
