Times Higher Education (THE) has won the national medium-sized company award and it was also a winner in the regional category for London and the South East in the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association’s (BVCA) Vision 2023 awards.
BVCA’s Vision 2023 recognises the best organisations of 2022 in the UK that are backed by private equity and venture capital. The awards take into account growth, competitiveness, innovation or agility, ESG- (environmental, social and governance) and the challenges of the year, which have included rising inflation and interest rates, supply chain issues and the impact of the war in Ukraine.
THE is the world’s leading provider of performance data, analytics, insights and consultancy to the global higher education and research community serving universities, corporates, not-for-profits and governments worldwide. It holds more than 11 million performance data points on over 6,700 universities from 155 countries, its website attracts over 66 million visits a year and it has more than 3,000 customers across all continents.
The judging panel were “very impressed” by THE’s submission, which scored exceptionally high against the four themes of growth, competitiveness, innovation and ESG.
The awards’ theme for this year - leaders driving growth - focuses on the future sustainability of businesses as well as past performance. The annual initiative, held in association with Grant Thornton, recognises the best business leaders within their members’ portfolio companies.
THE has attended the BCVA’s annual gala dinner where our CEO Paul Howarth was presented with the two awards. The gala, which brings together the private equity and venture capital community, took place at the Hilton Park Lane, London on Wednesday 22 November.
Paul Howarth, THE’s CEO, said:
“There is no other business quite like THE offering the breadth and depth of products and services across higher education, on a global basis, including data and insights, consultancy, digital marketing, events, thought leadership and recruitment.
“By providing a framework for international benchmarking of performance, THE supports universities and governments in strategic decision-making, helps academics make informed career choices and assists millions of students in choosing where and what to study.
“THE's mission is to help universities around the world continuously improve for the benefit of students and society and I’m delighted the organisation’s incredible hard work has been recognised with these two prestigious awards.”
Owned by Inflexion Private Equity, which acquired the business in February 2019, THE employs 327 people and is headquartered in London with offices in Bristol, Leeds, Washington DC, San Francisco, Singapore and Melbourne. THE has been transformed from a 37 person team in 2018 into a global business with a £40 million turnover.
THE has undergone a period of rapid growth, both organic and through acquisition. This and last year THE acquired four high-profile businesses:
- Poets&Quants (P&Q) the leading provider of news and resources for prospective graduate business students worldwide (April 2023)
- dataHE, the rapidly growing provider of data-led, code-based analysis to support UK universities (November 2022)
- BMI the leading global organiser of international student recruitment events, with a combined reach of 20 million prospective students (September 2022)
- Inside Higher Ed the US-based news provider, which gives THE a combined worldwide audience of around 50 million users (January 2022)
BVCA is the voice of private capital in the UK.
Michael Moore, BVCA Chief Executive, said:
“Times Higher Education is a leading example of a business demonstrating initiative and exceptional performance in 2022. We are pleased to celebrate their growth and achievements on both a regional and national scale at the Vision awards this year.
“Private equity and venture capital are key in helping to drive the future sustainability of outstanding businesses, who much like THE, offer so much to its communities.”
***ENDS***