History of Kent Business School

The University of Kent started offering management development programmes shortly after its foundation in the mid-1960s.

The first major programme launched was a part-time MA in Management programme offering personal development opportunities for managers from local enterprises. The success of this programme prompted the launch of an equivalent full-time MA in Management programme in 1984, which attracted significant numbers of students from the UK and overseas. The success of these two MA programmes prompted the University, in 1985, to set up an Institute of Management, which offered continuing professional development courses and consultancy services to local and regional enterprises.

The ongoing success of these activities prompted the University, in 1989, to form a new department – Canterbury Business School (CBS) – with a view to this department developing an MBA programme in purpose designed management development facilities.

The MBA programme was launched in 1991 and the new facilities were opened in 1992. At this time, the activities of CBS were confined to postgraduate programmes and services to corporate organisations.

In the mid-1990s CBS took over responsibility for a number of existing undergraduate degree programmes and launched a new undergraduate degree programme in Business Administration.

Kent Business School was launched in 2004. The School has since then continued to develop and grow to the point where it now has over 1400 undergraduate students, over 250 postgraduate students and over 70 academic and support staff, making it the single largest department in the University.

It is this commitment and development, which is the driving force behind the change of the name from Canterbury Business School to Kent Business School.

The Kent Business School offers a rich international environment with applicants from over a 100 countries. At Kent Business School we combine a multicultural learning environment with a supportive and flexible approach to teaching. Our staff and students are from a great variety of backgrounds and combine to form a varied international community.

Our degrees are respected by employers around the world for their relevance and academic rigour. We offer a wide range of exciting Undergraduate and Postgraduate taught and Postgraduate research degrees, a world-class Kent MBA programme and tailored business development programmes.

Our vision is to be a forward-looking Business School with global reach, creating stimulating research and learning environments, working with individuals and organisations to unlock innovation within our regional, national and international communities.