Ashridge Executive Education (also known as the Ashridge Programme or Ashridge) is the executive education programme of

Hult International Business School Hult International Business School (also known as Hult Business School or Hult) is a private business school with campuses in Cambridge, London, San Francisco, Dubai, New York City, and Shanghai. Hult is named for the school's benefactor Berti ...

, housed in Hult's Ashridge Estate campus. Formerly an independent

business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, or ...

, known as ''Ashridge Business School'', Ashridge completed an operational merger with Hult in 2015. Its activities include open and tailored executive education programmes,

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

and diploma qualifications, as well as organisation

consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

and

applied research Applied science is the use of the scientific method and knowledge obtained via conclusions from the method to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted ...

History

The college was conceived at Ashridge House in 1921, when the house was acquired by a trust established by

Bonar Law Andrew Bonar Law ( ; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923. Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now ...

, a future UK Prime Minister; in 1929 it became a "College of Citizenship", established to help the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

develop its intellectual forces in struggles with left-wing organisations such as the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. T ...

. It became a cross between a

think-tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental ...

and a training centre and had Arthur Bryant as its educational adviser. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the "College of Citizenship" was briefly re-established but in 1959 it was re-launched with a new focus on management training, taking the name Ashridge Management College. In 2015 the then Ashridge Business School operationally merged with

, an international business school with campuses in seven cities around the world. As part of the merger, ''Ashridge Business School'' changed its name to Ashridge Executive Education.

Campus

The Ashridge programme is based at Ashridge House, one of the largest

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

country houses in the United Kingdom. The school has a number of representatives in Europe and throughout the world, including in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico- economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe ...

countries.

Organization and administration

Constitution

Ashridge Business School is constituted as a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

, formally named the Ashridge (Bonar Law Memorial) Trust, and is one of the 150 largest UK charitable organisations ranked by annual expenditure. The trust has the following goals: (a) honouring the memory of a great statesman, (b) the preservation of the house and grounds as an historic building, (c) to create an educational centre (d) to train lecturers, speakers and writers to further the study of the subjects outlined above (e) provide lectures and/or discussions on these subjects open to the public or for those who had paid fees to attend, (f) provide a supporting staff, (g) to allow boarding by those attending the lectures and discussions.

Faculty

Ashridge employs approximately 95 full-time academic staff and has a further 100 associate faculty members. Faculty members are not traditional academics – the majority combine significant academic qualifications with extensive international business

experience Experience refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these conscious processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience involv ...

, enabling them to become fully involved with the issues and challenges faced by clients and individual participants. Academic staff regularly serve on the councils of international educational and advisory bodies, including the

Graduate Management Admission Council The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) is an international non-profit organization of business schools that provides products and services to academic institutions and prospective graduate management education students. The organization ...

(GMAC),

European Foundation for Management Development The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) is an international not-for-profit association based in Brussels. Europe's largest network association in the field of management development, it has over 890 member organizations from academ ...

(EFMD) and

Association of MBAs The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is a global organisation founded in 1967 which focuses primarily on international business school accreditation and membership. Roles Based in London, AMBA is one of the three main global accreditation bodies in ...

(AMBA). They also share their

expertise An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliabl ...

as visiting professors at many international business schools and universities.

Academics

In the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' rankings (May 2014) for custom and open programmes, Ashridge was ranked in the top 25 (23rd) in the world. Ashridge is the only UK specialist

with degree-awarding powers, giving it the equivalent status to a university in awarding its degrees. Ashridge's Academic

Accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

service provides a route for other educational institutions to work with Ashridge in offering degree-level qualifications in business and management.

Research centres

Ashridge has six research centres, each carrying out specific research and providing consultancy services and specialised programmes including Ashridge Centre for Business and

Sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livi ...

, Ashridge Centre for Coaching, Ashridge

Leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...

Centre, Ashridge Strategic Management Centre, Centre for Research in Executive Development, Ashridge Centre for

Action Research Action research is a philosophy and methodology of research generally applied in the social sciences. It seeks transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical refl ...

References

External links

Ashridge Business School
* {{Coord, 51, 47, 57, N, 0, 33, 35, W, type:edu_source:dewiki, display=title Hult International Business School Business schools in England Educational institutions established in 1959 1959 establishments in England Ashridge Little Gaddesden