Leicester Castle Business School accreditations, memberships and networks

LCBS is a member of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and on course to achieve accreditation in the near future. Established in 1916, AACSB provides quality assurance, business education intelligence, and professional development services to over 1,600 member organizations and more than 800 accredited business schools worldwide. Achieving AACSB accreditation will place LCBS within the top 5% of business schools worldwide.

LCBS is a signatory to the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), a global community of more than 800 business schools around the world. PRME works with businesses and business schools to ensure that future leaders try to incorporate the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals into their companies. The School recently completed and submitted our inaugural PRME report, indicating our commitment to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME). The final report can be found on the UN PRME website.

We are proud to share the many great activities, initiatives and partnerships that have helped shape our Business School, and that drive our vision to build a vibrant, inclusive community of future leaders: inspired by our values, committed to a just, peaceful and sustainable world.  We will be submitting our next annual report in June 2024 and so our commitment to the principles will continue!

LCBS is proud to have been successful in maintaining continuation of the Small Business Charter accreditation. This award celebrates world-class business schools across the UK and Ireland that demonstrate excellence and impact in supporting small businesses, student entrepreneurship, and their local economies. In order to achieve the Small Business Charter reaccreditation, LCBS underwent a rigorous assessment to determine the effectiveness of our business support, entrepreneurship education, and engagement with the local economy. Our SBC award is a recognition of the School’s ongoing work to support small businesses, local economies and student entrepreneurship, and our “strong faculty dedicated to small business, enterprise and entrepreneurship who are keen to work with entrepreneurs and small businesses”.

LCBS is a longstanding member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS), seen as the voice of the UK’s business and management education sector. The CABS supports Business Schools in maintaining world-class standards of teaching and research and helps to shape policy and create opportunities through dialogue with business and government. Our Dean, Professor Heather McLaughlin is a member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools Council and Chair of the Learning Teaching and Student Experience Committee, reflecting her expertise in business education.

LCBS is also a full member of the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), a globally recognised accreditation body for business schools, business school programmes, and corporate universities. Our EFMD membership reflects the School's active involvement in management development and socially responsible leadership. Our Deputy Dean, Professor Leanne de Main Leanne is an International Peer Reviewer for the European Federation of Management Development (EFMD) accreditation.

In February 2023, De Montfort University achieved a ‘Good Provider’ rating from Ofsted, with our Business School Degree Apprenticeship provision forming a significant part of the University submission. The report particularly praised the expertise of lecturers, student support and industry collaboration, and the way DMU degree apprenticeships were developed in conjunction with local employers to make sure students were getting the skills needed in industry.

Professional body accreditations

Alongside our numerous memberships and networks LCBS also holds accreditations from a range of professional bodies, demonstrating the quality of our teaching, research and engagement with business.

Accounting and finance programmes

Several LCBS programmes are accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and benefit from professional exam exemptions*.

LCBS Accounting and Finance programmes benefit from a range of accreditations and professional partnerships including:

• Association of International Accountants (AIA)
• Certified Practising Accountants Australia (CPA Australia)
• Chartered Insurance Institute (CII)
• Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
• Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
• Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA)

*The number of exemptions awarded will be dependent on the programme and modules selected.

Human resource management programmes

Our undergraduate and postgraduate HRM courses benefit from Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) accreditation. The CIPD is a professional body for experts in people at work, with hubs in the UK, Ireland, Middle East and Asia. The CIPD has more than 160,000 members around the world and is the only body that can award Chartered status to individual HR and L&D professionals.

Marketing programmes

LCBS is a Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Accredited Study Centre. The CIM are the world’s leading professional marketing body with over 30,000 members worldwide, including more than 3,000 Chartered Marketers. LCBS holds Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Dual Award Status, providing our students with exemptions from half of the CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing (subject to module selection).

LCBS is also an Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM) Key Educational Partner, enabling our students to study the IDM Certificate in Direct and Digital Marketing alongside their marketing degree.