University Degrees for Sale – The Buckingham Experience

There have been two major new developments in British education and this article reviews the origins and progress to date of both the University of Buckingham and the International Management Centre from Buckingham. The former is a fee‐paying independent university which offers honours degree programmes completed in two calendar years making use of the traditional long summer vacation. The International Management Centres (formerly the International Management Centre from Buckingham), like the University, is clearly not a creature of the state. Its origin can be traced back to some dissatisfaction with the state system. It was felt by some individuals that there was a need in the marketplace for a different type of business school with a new approach to management education, based on the principles of“action learning”.