Leeds University Business School

Age: More than 80 years old.

History: Started life as the Department of Commerce in the 1920s. Became Leeds University Business School in January 1997.

Address: An award-winning conversion of the 19th-century former Leeds Grammar School near the city centre: Gothic exterior, state-of-the-art interior.

Ambience: Part of the respected civic university, its £10m site has international-quality lecture and seminar rooms, with high-spec computing access and audio-visual facilities. Relaxing parkland just across the road.

Vital statistics: The school offers everything from undergraduate courses, Masters, MBAs and PhDs to corporate development programmes. The full-time MBA lasts one year, while the executive MBA usually takes two to three years culminating in an organisation-based project.

Added value: Programmes are research-driven: income from research contracts has topped £2.8m in the last five years, with staff consulting for more than 80 companies. The university's new innovation centre for business start-ups is next door. The school is particularly supportive of industry-relevant academic work that is to policy-makers and practitioners, and gains substantial income through awards from research councils, charities and the public and private sectors.

Easy to get into? Applicants need a good bachelor's degree or equivalent. Full-time MBAs need a minimum of three years' management experience, while executive MBAs need five.

Glittering alumni: David Abell, chairman of Jourdan Plc and director of Leicester City Football Club; Ian Dyson, financial director, Marks & Spencer; Peter Hendy, commissioner, Transport for London; Martin Scicluna, chairman, Deloitte UK.

Gurus: Professors Peter Buckley, international business; Bill Gerrard, sport management and finance; Gerard Hodgkinson, organisational psychology; Costas Katsikeas, marketing; Kevin Keasey, banking and financial services; Peter Moizer, accounting; Malcolm Sawyer, economics; and Yongcheol Shin, econometrics.

International connections: The full-time MBA attracts foreign faculty members and students. The school is a member of Carnet, an international network of accredited business school career professionals, which assists both students and companies in the recruiting process. It also has good links with institutions in India and Russia.

Teaching: Awarded 22 out of 24 by the QAA in 2001. The university achieved an 85 per cent satisfaction rating in the latest National Student Survey.

Student profile: The average age on the full-time MBA is 30; on the executive MBA it's 36. The male to female ratio is 2:1 on the full-time MBA and 3:1 on the executive option.

Cost: Full-time UK and EU MBA students pay £17,000; full-time non-EU MBA students pay £20,500; and the executive MBA is £17,000.

Return on investment: Salary and career boost.

Who's the boss? Professor Peter Moizer, an expert in accounting.

Prospectus: +44 (0)113 343 2610; www.leeds.ac.uk/lubs; info@lubs.leeds.ac.uk; mba@lubs.leeds.ac.uk