News

Patricia Hewitt visits Durham

(24 June 2004)

Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for Women and Equality, has met with Dinah Bennett of Women into the Network (WIN), based at Durham Business School. The meeting is both support and endorsement for the growing success of the North East based organisation.

Patricia Hewitt's visit comes at a time of growing national and international influence for WIN. Dinah Bennett has just returned from Istanbul, Turkey, where she addressed a global conference on sharing best practice on entrepreneurship for women.

Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry said: "Durham's becoming a real centre of excellence for encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit among women. I'm delighted to visit the business school today to see the great work they're doing and the encouragement they're giving to our entrepreneurs of the future."

Dinah Bennett of WIN said: "Patricia Hewitt has been a real source of support and this partnership of public and private sector has been key to the success of WIN. This visit is also timely as the North East is really helping to set the pace both nationally and internationally for women in business."

For editorial queries, please contact Nicola Hunt at NHPR on Tel: 020 7739 4514, email nicola@nhpr.com or contact Colette Knowles, Durham Business School on Tel: 0191 334 5265, email Colette.knowles@durham.ac.uk Notes to the editor

Durham Business School
Durham Business School is the one of the longest established business schools in the UK and the leading business school in the North East. Over the last two years the School has grown considerably to take its faculty membership to over 80 - including 22 professors.

Predominately postgraduate with a student body of 2500, Durham Business School has an international reputation. 81% of its full-time MBA class are from outside the UK and the programme is ranked in the FT's top 100 global MBAs. Durham's distance-learning MBA is listed in the FT's top 20 distance programmes in the world.

The School is highly regarded for its research in entrepreneurship, finance and public policy and has a long and respected history for developing and assisting businesses from SMEs to multinationals. It champions the exchange of intelligence and information between business leaders and the academic community.

Durham Business School is an active contributor to the development of business policy both in the UK and internationally and is home to many initiatives such as the award-winning Women into Network (WIN).