UK Training Industry Press Releases

Lord Ashcroft, the Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University since 2001, has today made a gift  of £5million to build a new business school in Cambridge.

This follows a similar gift to Anglia Ruskin University, made in 2000, which was used to build the award-winning Michael A Ashcroft Building at the Rivermead campus, Chelmsford.  Today's gift means that Lord Ashcroft has given well over £10 million to Anglia Ruskin University.

The new donation will be used to construct the Ashcroft International Business School in Cambridge, situated in East Road, less than half a mile from the city centre.  It will offer facilities to undergraduate, postgraduate and post experience business students as well as being a base for international research.

Lord Ashcroft is one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs and a former alumnus of Anglia Ruskin.  His commitment to education is substantial and of long-standing, having supported numerous initiatives in many parts of the world.  Over the last ten years, he has been working with Anglia Ruskin to develop and implement the concept of education aimed at entrepreneurs.  This approach has proved immensely successful in Chelmsford, and the new business school will extend that approach to Cambridge, offering practically-based business education.