Nottingham University Business School achieves top 'pioneering' accolade in Positive Impact Rating 2026
Nottingham University Business School has achieved the highest possible Level 5 rating in the Positive Impact Rating (PIR) 2026, recognising its global leadership in sustainability and societal impact.
The PIR, launched at the Global Summit on 22 June 2026, is a student-led evaluation of how business schools address social and environmental challenges and prepare graduates for responsible leadership. This year’s results draw on nearly 20,000 student responses from 87 schools across 32 countries.
Nottingham University Business School is one of only 12 business schools worldwide to achieve the top ‘Pioneering’ level, which recognises institutions demonstrating outstanding performance across all key impact areas, including governance, teaching, student experience, research and public engagement.
The recognition reflects the school’s strong commitment to embedding sustainability and societal impact throughout its teaching, research and operations, as well as its openness to student feedback. The PIR is distinctive in being created by students, for students, providing a powerful insight into the lived experience of learners.
Professor Andrew Bacon, Associate Dean for External Engagement at the business school, said:
“We are very proud to be recognised among the top business schools globally. Our students expect an education that leads on sustainability and societal impact, and this result reflects the work taking place across the school.”
Student engagement played a central role in the process, with participants from the school’s Sustainability and Societal Impact Fellowship Programme helping to deliver the survey across campuses in the UK and China.
Cleo Kemp, undergraduate student, said:
“At the beginning, I was unaware of how much sustainability influences the Business School’s architecture, food services, campus culture, and education. Having completed the programme, I can now confidently say I understand the broad ways sustainability influences universities. In addition, I could adapt this information to other industries I may work for in the future.”
The Positive Impact Rating is supported by an international coalition of organisations including WWF, Oxfam and the UN Global Compact, and is increasingly used by business schools to benchmark progress and demonstrate impact to stakeholders.
More information
Posted on Wednesday 24th June 2026