University of Edinburgh Business School (UK) with NatWest Group wins prestigious Best Business School Partnership Award in the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards 2025

The ceremony was attended by more than 200 business school leaders, as well as category finalists, judges and members of the media.

The Best Business School Partnership Award recognises business schools that share AMBA & BGA’s passion for building networks and have adopted a proactive and innovative approach to strategic collaboration.

The University of Edinburgh Business School and NatWest Group designed and delivered a flexible, scalable and impactful learning and development partnership to empower more than 63,000 of the banking group’s colleagues (99.9% of NatWest Group’s headcount) with the necessary technical knowledge, skills and awareness to deliver on its climate ambition – to be a leading bank in the UK, helping address the climate challenge.

The innovative partnership responded agilely to the organisation's and colleagues’ developing needs, blending and layering different learning strands to create a positive change culture throughout the banking group.

Professor Gavin Jack, Dean of the University of Edinburgh Business School, said: ‘I am delighted with this recognition from AMBA & BGA; it is testament to the dedication of our Executive Education team, and the shared purpose of the Business School and the NatWest Group around climate education. This partnership delivers the School’s mission to create meaningful change for people, organisations and the environment”. 

James Close, Head of Climate Change at NatWest Group, said: ‘At NatWest Group, we recognise the importance of investing in our people to build the future skills and behaviours we need to realise our climate ambition. We are delighted that our multi-year partnership with University of Edinburgh has been recognised with this award. Combatting the impacts of climate change will require a collaborative and wide-reaching effort. The AMBA and BGA award is a demonstration of this, recognising the superb collaboration between NatWest and University of Edinburgh teams, and the wide-reaching impact achieved by training tens of thousands of colleagues.’

Andrew Main Wilson, Chief Executive of the Association of MBAs and Business Graduates Association (AMBA & BGA) said: “On behalf of the AMBA and BGA team, I would like to congratulate the finalists and winners of this year’s Excellence Awards. 

“This year, the competition was stronger than ever – with the highest number of entries ever. The entries who have made the final shortlist in each category should feel proud of their achievements.

“Additionally, the students and graduates who have been shortlisted as finalists today have all used their qualifications to achieve a spectrum of impressive results, in terms of the positive impact they have made to business, education and society as a whole.

“It was thrilling to be able to celebrate the AMBA & BGA network’s achievements at our Gala Dinner - in particular it’s been amazing to celebrate exceptional innovations and successes in the higher management education industry.

“I also want to take the opportunity to thank our partners, BlueSky Education, GMAC, Accredinator - Business School Accreditation Software, QED and Cesim Business Simulations. Their support for our awards – and the business education sector – is greatly appreciated.”

ENDS

For more information or interviews, please contact:

Ellen Buchan, Insight, Content & PR Manager, AMBA & BGA –
E.buchan@amba-bga.com