News

The Pershing Square Foundation Launches Saïd Business School MBA Scholarship Programme

Oxford, Oxfordshire (PRWEB UK) 23 September 2013
The Pershing Square Foundation (PSF) announced the launch of the Oxford Pershing Square Graduate Scholars Programme in New York City. The Programme will help extraordinary individuals develop and realize their potential to become global leaders and to address world-scale challenges for the benefit of society.

The Pershing Square Foundation has endowed up to five fully funded Scholarships each year for the MBA component of the Oxford 1+1 Programme, which allows students to pair the one-year Oxford MBA with a second specialist one-year Oxford master’s programme from a selection.

“The Pershing Square Foundation is committed to supporting innovative global leaders who can deliver scalable and sustainable impact while tackling important social issues,” said Bill Ackman, founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. “The Oxford Pershing Square Graduate Scholars Programme will support the world’s future leaders so they can create positive change around the world.”

“This unique programme will redefine business education and prepare students for successful careers that address issues that will challenge us far into the future. Our hope is that, over time, the Pershing Square Scholars will grow into a powerful community, supporting each other to bring about lasting social change through business,” said Professor Peter Tufano, Dean of Oxford’s Saїd Business School.

The Scholars will be outstanding young leaders and innovators who seek to address world-scale challenges for the benefit of society. The competitive programme will draw applicants from many settings, united in their focus on securing significant social impact. The selection process will identify candidates who are able to demonstrate, in part through experience, an aptitude and commitment to addressing global challenges in diverse and innovative ways.

The Pershing Square Foundation has made a gift of £4.5m ($6.6 million) to endow the Scholarships in perpetuity. The University of Oxford has provided a further £3m ($4.6 million) under the Oxford Graduate Scholarship Matched Fund, taking the total Scholarship funding to £7.5m ($11.72 million). The first five Oxford Pershing Square Scholars will join the 1+1 MBA programme in Autumn 2014.

About The Pershing Square Foundation

The Pershing Square Foundation, based in New York, was founded in December 2006 by Karen and Bill Ackman. Bill is the CEO and Portfolio Manager of Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. The Pershing Square Foundation has committed $215 million in grants and social investments to support exceptional leaders and innovative organizations that tackle important social issues and deliver scalable and sustainable impact.

About Saїd Business School

Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford blends the best of new and old. We are a young, vibrant, and innovative business school, but yet deeply embedded in an 800 year old world-class university. We create programmes and ideas that have global impact. We educate people for successful business careers, and as a community seek to tackle world-scale problems. We deliver cutting-edge programmes and ground-breaking research that transform individuals, organisations, business practice, and society. We seek to be a world-class business school community, embedded in a world-class University, tackling world-scale problems.
In the Financial Times European Business School ranking (Dec 2012) Saïd is ranked 12th. It is ranked 13th worldwide in the FT’s combined ranking of Executive Education programs (May 2013) and 24th in the world in the FT ranking of MBA programs (Jan 2013). The Oxford MSc in Financial Economics is ranked 4th in the world in the FT ranking of Masters in Finance programs (June 2012). In the UK university league tables it is ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business and management in The Guardian (May 2012) and has ranked first in eight of the last nine years in The Times. For more information, see http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/
Contact

Melissa McNamara
For The Pershing Square Foundation
212-260-8813
mmcnamara(at)globalstrategygroup(dot)com

Clare Fisher
For Saїd Business School
Tel: +44 (0) 1865 288968
Mobile: +44 (0) 7912 771090
clare(dot)fisher(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk

ENDS