Huddersfield Business School

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

AACSB accreditation ensures continuous improvement and provides focus for schools to deliver on their mission, innovate, and drive impact. AACSB-accredited schools have successfully undergone a rigorous review process conducted by their peers in the business education community, ensuring that they have the resources, credentials, and commitment needed to provide students with a first-rate, future-focused business education.

Teaching

Huddersfield Business School is the largest department in the School of Business, Education and Law housing around half of the students in the School. It is a vibrant community of ~60 academic staff who are recognised experts undertaking responsible teaching, research, and enterprise. We provide a dynamic learning environment where all members of staff are committed to providing an excellent and engaging student experience.

We offer a broad range of innovative taught programmes aiming to equip our highly employable graduates with the latest knowledge and real-world skills to maximise their future potential, enabling them to be employed in a wide range of careers spanning the private, public and voluntary sectors.  We can offer you a broad range of study areas from business management, accounting, finance and economics to international business, marketing, and project and operations management. In collaboration with our external partners and our national award-winning Employability and Placement Team, we provide a range of placement and internship opportunities for undergraduate and postgraduate students.   Our finance and economics students will benefit from a fully equipped stock exchange-style trading room which complements other computer facilities in our thriving School.

Our excellence in teaching and student experience is evidenced in our excellent National Student Satisfaction Survey and the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey. We have been successful in the delivery of a MSc Strategic Communication Leadership programme exclusively to the Government Communication Service bespoke for the Cabinet Office over the years. 

We firmly believe in business and education working together to help prepare our students for their future careers. Our students are taught by professionals from industry/practice and other businesses in the region, to allow them to develop a number of technical and professional skills. In their first year of study, our accountancy and finance undergraduate students get an opportunity to work closely with staff from pwc, a big international firm of chartered accountants. This allows them to gain an insight into how accountants work in diverse organisations and how it is not always 'just about the numbers'!

Professional Links and Accreditations

We run an active 'Partners in Accountancy' scheme involving nine firms of chartered accountants in the region, ranging from large international firms to small local practices. These firms provide direct support for your technical knowledge development and also help explain why, and how, personal and professional development are vital for your employability. 

Guest speakers are regular occurrences on our courses – with guests from local firms and organisations, including banks such as NatWest, HSBC and the Bank of England. These speakers are keen to talk to you and help you understand the environment they work in and the personal and professional development that will support your career plans.

Our placement year, taken after two years of undergraduate study, is an exciting opportunity to develop your knowledge and career potential with a choice of organisations from the private sector, public sector and voluntary sector. The careers and placement teams offer fantastic support, connecting you with the right employers and helping you find job opportunities that future employers will value.

 The Department has a long history of collaboration with a range of professional bodies, including the Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), Chartered Association of Management Accountants (CIMA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).  

Taking advantage of our placement year as an undergraduate student can also lead to these professional bodies recognising this work as part of the work experience you need to become full members of their organisations. We will make sure that you know about all of the relevant professional bodies as they are part of our business links, and you will have the opportunity to meet and work with many of them during your programme.

Research

We have an active and dynamic research community in Huddersfield Business School.

Our research is broad and diverse largely including banking and finance, behavioural and experimental economics, corporate governance, diversity, economics and econometrics, employability, entrepreneurship and SMEs, finance, human resource management, innovation, international business, leadership, management accounting, public relations, sociology of work, sustainability and the environment, strategy and strategic communication.

Our research has been funded by InnovateUK, Leverhulme Trust, Welcome Trust, and the ESRC, to name a few. Our work has been published in leading journals such as British Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal, Human Relations, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organization Studies, Regional Studies, Research Policy, Work, Employment and Society, Sociology, among others.

Our Postgraduate Research students including PhD and DBA are a vital part of our vibrant research community. Our experienced members of staff are committed to supporting our PGR students. We welcome new inquiries.

Our staff list provides full details of research interests so please have a look if you are considering research in a particular area. Further information is available on our School Research page.

Engagement and impact

We are proud of the diversity of ways of knowledge exchange that we use our expertise and research to engage with external partners in the public, private and third sectors across West Yorkshire, the UK, and beyond. We have a strong team delivering executive education programmes, including apprenticeships at Degree and Masters levels and the recently introduced Help to Grow (a government-backed, practical 12-week management programme designed to support senior managers of small and medium-sized businesses to boost their business performance, resilience, and long-term growth).

We engage in other activities to support the management and leadership development of organisations in the region and beyond. Some examples of our researchers have made positive impacts on the region and far beyond through collaboration include:

• A Better Future Post Covid: Empowering Communities in Wakefield District (ECWD), supported by West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and funded by the UK Community Renewable Fund (UKCRF) helping businesses from the region recover from the pandemic

• Sustainable Management of Wetlands in East and Central Africa: Enhancing Livelihoods, Stimulating Enterprise, and Building Resilience in the Face Of Climate Change

• Developing a Global Capability Framework for the Public Relations Profession (Global Capability Framework — Global Alliance 

Our staff also work closely with colleagues at The Economics Network and the Office for National Statistics.