News
Wednesday 9 November 2005
Graduate scoops Business Student of the Year award
Richard Samuel, 23, a graduate from Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, scooped ‘The Association of Business Schools Business Student of the Year Award’ at the 2005 National Business Awards last night, 8 November.
At the black tie gala dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, attended by a distinguished audience of over 1,200 business men and women, Richard was presented with his award by Nicole Anderson, UK Director of Business Development Business of SAP, the world’s leading provider of business software solutions. Richard’s award was the first to be presented culminating in Lord Kalms of Edgware, Chairman of Dixons Group, winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
On the night, International Business graduate Richard was competing against two other students. Last month he won the undergraduate category - one of three categories - in the eighth annual Awards for Business and Management Students run by the Association of Business Schools (ABS), sponsored by SAP. The three winners in the ABS Awards go forward to the National Business Awards.
The undergraduate category is aimed at students who have spent a year on a work placement as part of their degree. Eight judges assessed Richard’s entry which described his work placement year over 2003/4 to be the most impressive from all the undergraduate entries received. There are over 100 business schools in the UK and most undergraduate business students spend one year out of their studies working, putting theory into practice.
Richard’s interest in international business led him to work in Tokyo, for an international engineering and construction company despite having minimal Japanese! He then spent six months on an international management programme at Orebro University in Sweden before returning to the UK. Here, he won a place on the ‘Inside Track’ placement scheme run by Shell Technology Enterprise (STEP) and the Design Council helping a medium sized bakery packaging firm with its marketing strategy. Having graduated in June 2005, Richard lives in Kingston and is now a management consultant for the Business and Technology Consultants, Impact Plus.
The runners up for the award were Eyal Ben-Cohen, Cranfield School of Management, winner of the postgraduate category and Abigail Cooke, University of Central England Business School, winner of the CSR category.
Jonathan Slack, a judge and Chief Executive of the Association of Business Schools, said:
“Richard Samuel is a very deserving winner – an exemplary student whose ambitious work placement and international business degree took him round the world and into an excellent job. Richard is living proof of what you can achieve studying business and why business continues to be the most popular subject to study at university.”
Richard Samuel, ABS Business Student of the Year, said:
“To win the title of Business Student of the Year is a wonderful acknowledgement of my time at Nottingham Business School and fifteen months’ hard work around the world. I am delighted with the award, and hope it will be a great stepping stone into a successful future career.”
Notes for editors:
1. The Association of Business Schools is the representative body and authoritative voice for all the leading business schools of UK universities, higher education institutions and independent management colleges. The Association of Business Schools Awards for Business and Management, sponsored by SAP and supported by the Guardian have run for 8 years. In 2005 there were three categories: the Undergraduate Award was based upon students’ work placements; the Postgraduate Award was aimed at students who have formed new businesses or introduced new products or services for an existing employer as a result of their studies; the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award was based on students’ understanding and application of the principles of CSR in business. The winners in each of the three categories go forward to compete for the title of ‘Business and Management Student of the Year 2005’ at the National Business Awards. www.the-abs.org.uk
2. The ABS Awards are sponsored by SAP, the world’s largest business applications company. SAP has, through its Global University Alliance Program, supported university development of graduate and undergraduate curricula incorporating its state of the art enterprise management software. The goal is to encourage students to gain hands-on experience of the most advanced technologies which underline and support business concepts taught in the classroom.
3. The National Business Awards, acknowledged by The Chancellor of the Exchequer as "the UK's business Oscars", were established to reward and recognise the importance of both national and regional business excellence to the success of 'UK plc'.
The UK 's National Business Awards is the first programme to engage FTSE100s and blue chip companies with SMEs and new ventures and was launched three years ago to celebrate the contribution that modest businesses make to the nation.
www.nationalbusinessawards.com
For further information, photography and the opportunity to speak to Richard Samuel please contact James Birkett, Public Relations Manager, The Association of Business Schools on 020 7388 0007, or 07946 605341, or jbirkett@the-abs.org.uk.
Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on Tel: 0115 848 2650 or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk.
Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on Tel: 0115 848 6589 or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk.
