A Message from the Dean – September 2024

Professor André Spicer

It has been a busy time at Bayes as we prepare for a new academic year with fresh cohorts of students and colleagues, alongside familiar returning faces.

We start the new academic year with a record number of Undergraduate and Executive Masters students, a great new MBA intake and a strong contingent of MSc students from a wide range of countries.

September’s intake has been drawn from record numbers of Executive Master’s applicants and includes more than 900 MSc students. We are looking forward to meeting the newest members of our community.

One significant change that has taken place since our last newsletter is the merging of City and St George’s to form City, St George’s, University of London, which was completed on 1 August.

Although this will not affect us too much in the way we operate, it will doubtlessly unlock major opportunities for new synergies and partnerships with the healthcare professions.

You may also have noticed some hugely positive rankings results for Bayes over the last few weeks. The National Student Survey (NSS) placed our undergraduate finance programmes in the UK’s top 10, while the BSc Accounting & Finance programme rose an impressive 59 places in just 12 months. Thank you to everyone who contributed feedback for this year’s survey, it is valuable to us as we strive to make the student experience at Bayes as enriching as possible.

The pleasing NSS score was followed up by an excellent performance in The Guardian University Guide 2025’s ranking of undergraduate courses. Accounting and finance programmes climbed 15 places nationally, while our marketing courses held onto the number one spot in London and 3rd in the country. The Guide is recognised among prospective students as an important source of information in making their university choice, so this is very good news for us indeed.

With the start of a new academic year in the next couple of weeks, I’d like to mark your diary with a couple of exciting upcoming events. Wednesday 9 October sees the launch of the Institute for Creativity and AI at Bayes, an interdisciplinary think tank that will work closely with funding bodies and businesses and business management, healthcare, journalism and the arts.

We then welcome Bina Mehta, the first woman chair of KPMG, to deliver a flagship lecture on Thursday 17 October, and will explore sustainable growth. Tuesday 22 October sees us host the Annual Craft Lecture, which will be a panel discussion this year titled “Colonialism and Climate Change”. Do look out for further details on each of these.

Finally, I’d like to remind UK-based alumni to take advantage of our alumni lounge in Finsbury Square, where you will be able to use meeting rooms and network with fellow members of our community. More details can be found on the Bayes website.

Best wishes,

Professor André Spicer