The Business School Committed To Delivering Social Value

Business school rankings typically focus on graduate career outcomes, salary increases and ROI, with an occasional nod to recruiter assessment, student selectivity, diversity and ESG. But what about the business school itself as a force for economic growth and social cohesion, and an inclusive catalyst that can narrow the gaps in inequality and opportunity?

For Sankar Sivarajah, Dean of the University of Bradford School of Management and Professor of Circular Economy and Technology Management, business education should have inclusion and social mobility at its very heart. He believes business schools have a pivotal role to play in widening access to quality education.

Sankar is not your usual business school dean. Born in Sri Lanka, he actually planned to go back and run his family business after studying his Masters in Management specialising in Entrepreneurship in London. However, he fell in love with business education. His visions of a business empire built on his father’s foundation and hard work faded into the background and he felt he could make a real difference in the business school world and at the Bradford School of Management.

“That sense of generating job fulfilment comes from still being in the business environment where you can make a positive difference to society. I’m learning every single day, working with small businesses and start-ups to fast ventures to big commercial industries, and able to create business leaders that will actually have a more powerful impact than me sitting in my own small business back home.”

And the triple-accredited school that he leads today has had some impressive successes in recent years, including the title ‘Business School of the Year’ in the Times Higher Education Awards 2021. With recognition for Bradford’s focus on economic and social regeneration, the school’s commitments in these areas are a large part of both its history and its future.

Bradford itself is one of the UK and Europe’s youngest cities. “It is a real melting pot,” says Sankar, “with a huge range of cultures. It also has a very powerful industrial and entrepreneurial heritage.” According to a recent index, it’s one of the most affordable cities in which to live and launch start-ups in. It was recently announced as the UK City of Culture 2025 and part of that includes a huge regeneration project. In many ways, it’s an exciting place for an ambitious business school to be in. But not without challenges.

Inclusivity and technology literacy

“In order to make a real difference, particularly to our local area, our admissions criteria for example, take into account an array of information such as an applicant’s social and economic circumstances, where they live, together with other contextual information, such as whether they are a care leaver. From there, the curriculum through to the research explores ways to solve real world problems.”

The business world needs agile and collaborative problem-solvers with a can-do attitude to manage these real-world problems and challenges. Sankar believes that technology literacy will be essential for future business leaders to thrive but insists that inclusivity must still be an important part of their education. Doing the right things cannot be pushed aside to keep up with the speed of technological advancements.

“We create a lot of graduates from our funded AI programme, which offers a government funded scholarship option supporting people who are not typically represented in AI,” he says. Bradford School of Management is one of the few business schools in the UK to offer an Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics MSc program.

“We also wanted researchers and graduates who could then work to support local businesses and communities. At the moment, we have an associate funded by UK’s Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme who is developing a model to help with predictive analytics about tenant payments and repairs for broken boilers. The research team are in the process of creating an innovative AI strategy allowing Bradford’s largest social housing provider to make informed decisions ahead of time, which clearly has a positive impact directly on people’s lives.”

This sense of inclusion is echoed in other initiatives across the business school too. “We also have a long-standing International Masters Summer School programme which continues to be centred around themes focusing on fighting for justice, delivering social value and tackling climate action. Our online MBA is also borderless, so we are giving people from different parts of the world accessibility to quality management education that is real value for money.”

Giving a voice to a wider community

Bradford School of Management has also just launched Project ReMAKE, an entrepreneurship training programme for people who have previously been in prison. The nine-week programme introduces participants to the business skills needed to build, launch and sustain self-employed businesses. It really does give people another chance.

“I think that it’s powerful to create a very progressive school. You can really challenge the status quo and not take anything for granted. It is important to reflect and challenge the things we have, think about what works and what doesn’t and ultimately try and give back to the community. That’s it.”

Sankar really does believe in walking the talk when it comes to social inclusion and adding value, in a world that is often exclusive. As Bradford looks the future, Sankar and his colleagues seek to instil the same sense of responsibility in every single one of their alumni. He encourages people to go beyond their comfort zones, intervene when something is wrong, assess policies that are in place and, in the business school world, question whether rankings can really create a systematic change in the industry.

“It’s not just down to one person, right?”

And perhaps thanks to Sankar Sivarajah we won’t just recognise Bradford as the birthplace of painter David Hockney, writer J. B. Priestley, or One Direction’s Zayn Malik, but as the birthplace of a business school committed to social change and delivering social value for the current and future society.

So, the talk about Bradford should not just focus on what Bradford “was” but what Bradford “is” and will be in years to come .