As a former international businesswoman, the dean of Bradford University School of Management is under no illusions about the challenges that face this highly-regarded institution.

Dr Sarah Dixon, who arrived in September, is determined that the School must continue to innovate to maintain its income stream and remain at the forefront of the highly-competitive international business school market.

“Innovation will be the key to our continued success going forward. This includes making our existing programmes even more attractive, and we’re reviewing our MBA and MSc programmes to see how they can be improved.

“The crucial point of executive education programmes is that they must enhance the employability of those who undertake them, whether they are undergraduates hoping to boost their chances of getting decent jobs, or existing managers on executive programmes looking to widen their career options,” said Dr Dixon.

She is clearly comfortable in and relishing the role, bolstered by the fact that one of her stated aims has already been achieved.

The School of Management was recently confirmed as one of the best in the country by achieving top ten status in the prestigious Financial Times annual league table of European business schools. The School was also ranked as first in the North of England.

It is placed alongside the likes of London Business School, Cranfield School of Management and Oxford University in the FT’s table.

Dr Dixon said the ranking confirmed Bradford’s leading place in the pantheon of European business schools based on an assessment of the quality of Masters in Management, full-time MBA, executive MBA and executive education programmes.

She said it was particularly important, and gratifying, that the views of former students on how they rated the courses, the quality of jobs they have held since and their relative pay increases had contributed to the School’s high score.

Dr Dixon said: “This ranking is excellent news for Yorkshire and will ensure we continue to attract top international students to our Masters and MBA programmes.

“Our focus on business relevance, as well as our strengths in research, is a large part of this success. We have some of the UK’s top academic names who inform their teaching with leading-edge thinking, and all this pays off in the quality of jobs that our students get all around the world.”

Dr Dixon paid tribute to her predecessor Prof Arthur Francis, who was dean from 1998 until his retirement last year.

“The School’s current standing is a great tribute to the leadership and hard work of Arthur during his tenure. It’s now my responsibility to built on his achievements.”

Professor Francis bowed out following the official opening of the £12 million extension to the School’s Emm Lane site by Sir Ken Morrison, former boss of the Bradford-based Morrison’s supermarket chain, which has close links with the School of Management.

Dr Dixon said the new development, including the new Sir Titus Salt building and incorporating a 92-seat management course teaching room, a new library and resource centre and extra tutorial rooms and offices, had transformed the campus, originally based around a 19th century former college for trainee Baptist ministers.

“The new facilities are first-rate and marry in well with the beautiful Victorian buildings, making for a really attractive campus combining state-of-the-art amenities with historic surroundings. The development will help us achieve our goal of attracting more students,” said the dean.

Dr Dixon came to her new role from the University of Bath, where she was head of MSc programmes. Her appointment marked a return to the city where she studied languages at the university between 1971 and 1975.

She moved into academia after a 23-year career with oil giant Shell, where she was an international strategist, working in a variety of roles involving strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions and management posts in Austria and Russia.

She wants to use that experience to initiate more international partnerships. Bradford School of Management attracts full-time Masters and MBA students with managerial experience from 42 countries.

It also operates programmes and confers degrees in Europe, the Middle East, India and the Far East. Some 2,000 students are registered for awards on its overseas programmes.

The aim is to develop more partnerships with bodies in the United States along with the rapidly-expanding economies of China and India.

Three years ago, Bradford joined the 120 or so business schools to achieve the European Quality Improvement System accreditation for its MBA programmes, the leading international system of quality assessment, improvement, and accreditation for business schools.

The big goal is to join institutions from 38 countries with the US-based AACSB accreditation.

This would complete the ‘triple crown’ for Bradford, which already has the international Association of MBA accreditation, which puts it among elite providers. It will have to pass a rigorous audit and assessment process to achieve further recognition for its courses.

Dr Dixon said: “To achieve the triple crown of major accreditation would cement the school’s place in the top echelon of business schools, which would not only be good for us, but also for Bradford.”

She is also focusing on developing more links with companies. Organisations already sending managers on executive education and accredited programmes include Morrisons, Pace, Hallmark, local authorities and NHS organisations.

The first intake of the School’s corporate degree in partnership with Morrisons will start this month. Morrisons is funding 20 undergraduates through a three-year degree course in food manufacturing, paying them a salary while they study with a job at the end of the course.