In addition, Bangor will offer the new and innovative ‘Chartered Banker MBA’, which has been developed in partnership with a leading professional banking institute, the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. This is the only qualification in the UK and globally which allows students to gain an MBA as well as the professional qualification of ‘Chartered Banker’. It is an MBA that can be acquired in the workplace via a combination of internet-based delivery, supported by workshops (held in London and at regional centres overseas). The degree has been designed specifically to help bankers meet the professional challenges that the recent global crisis has unleashed.
Bangor is not the first university outside London to develop a London centre or campus. The prestigious US Chicago Booth, for example, recently established a presence. Other UK universities that have established a physical base in London include the University of East Anglia, Glasgow Caledonian and Surrey. These moves underscore the continuing importance of London as one of the world’s leading global centres, and the importance of having a physical location there.
The Bangor Business School houses probably the biggest concentration of banking researchers in the European University sector and it is internationally renowned for its banking research. In the last (December 2008) UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the definitive ranking of UK university research, Bangor University’s Business School was ranked Number 1 in the UK for research in Accounting and Finance (including Banking). Establishing a physical presence in one of the world’s leading banking and financial centres clearly makes a lot of sense to them.
The new Bangor Business School London Centre was opened by Lord Mervyn Davies (Director of Diego, Vice-Chairman of Corsair Capital, former Labour Business Minister and Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank) and Sir Andrew Cahn (Vice-Chairman Public Policy of Nomura Group and formerly Chief Executive Officer of UK Trade and Investment). Bangor is not the first non-London University to establish a physical presence in the City and it is unlikely to be the last. But it is the first from Wales and is also distinguished by its international research reputation in banking. It may also be seen as another indicator of London’s post-crisis recovery.
Editor’s notes: Bangor Business School chose flexible office space run by Regus at the Broadgate Tower which provided fixed private serviced office space for administration purposes as well as access to meeting rooms, conference rooms and event space that could be reserved on an ad hoc basis.
As of May 2023, Bangor Business School are no longer physically present in London and focuses on its digital delivery platforms for its highly sought-after programmes such as the Chartered Banker MBA.