Aston Business School

Aston University received its Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II on 22 April 1966. The Charter of the University outlines objectives appropriate to a technological university: "to advance, disseminate and apply learning and knowledge by teaching and research, for the benefit of industry and commerce and of the community generally: and to enable students to obtain the advantage of a university education, and such teaching and research may include periods outside the University in industry or commerce or wherever the University considers proper for the best advancement of its objects."  The emphasis given to the placement year system, and the maintenance of strong links with industry, arises naturally from the institution’s history. The motto of the University is the same as that of the City of Birmingham.

The development and articulation of Aston University’s strategy gives us the opportunity to communicate clearly our ambition, our objectives, and our priorities; to state what is most important to us, and to identify our points of distinction.  This strategy has been framed differently from most university strategies, and deliberately so. Most strategies are defined around the principal activities of the university; usually research, education, and engagement.