But these are unsettled times, and now, more than ever we need your support as a LUMS Investor in Excellence to provide the chance to grow and develop in new, otherwise impossible, ways. As alumni, we will never underestimate how much your valued support helps us safeguard our School now and for future generations. Your assistance provides new opportunities to help keep LUMS at the forefront of management education, ensures your successors can benefit from the same internationally renowned education as yourselves, and allows us to build upon our achievements of the past 50 years. Our aim is to provide significant philanthropic support for our students, researchers and the LUMS estate by inspiring 10% of our alumni to become LUMS Investors in Excellence. This will be a major achievement by our alumni community and will mean increasing support levels from less than 0.5% to an amazing 10% participation rate.

Through your regular giving as a LUMS Investor in Excellence, you will be allowing the School to pursue new strategic initiatives and achieve our highest priorities, enabling us to provide the best opportunities for thought leaders, support for those students most in need, and the best facilities for all of our stakeholders.

Your support is a catalyst for continued success and progress. It enables us to continue shaping the next generation of our alumni community and to be the go-to Management School for cutting edge knowledge of which everyone wants to be a part.

Thank you for being a LUMS Investor in Excellence.

Professor Angus Laing FRSADean, Lancaster University Management School

"LUMS Investors in Excellence is a great idea. It’s a way to give back and to help improve the University; I spent the best three years of my life at Lancaster – I love Lancaster and I had such a great time when I was studying there.

"All students deserve a chance to flourish in their education and beyond, no matter their background. I work in investment banking, where many workers have been recruited from a narrow list of ‘target’ universities and where they are almost groomed for the roles. There is so much untapped potential at Lancaster and other similar universities, and investing in this programme is a way to help that talent shine through.

"It ties in with the work I do as part of my role at Jefferies International Limited (a diversified financial services company engaged in investment banking and capital markets, asset management and direct investing) with the Management School and LUIFS. I work as an Investment Banker in Equity Capital Markets at Jefferies. As part of my role, I participate in Jefferies’ graduate recruitment programme. I head up a team recruiting from non-target universities across the UK and Europe and, as a proud Lancaster graduate, have piloted a scheme with the University to attract more high-quality Lancaster graduates to apply for jobs in investment banking (at Jefferies, obviously!) and financial services.

"It’s important to retain a relationship with the university and to help out in any small way I can to open doors for people, and that is what both my professional involvement and the LUMS Investors in Excellence programme do.

"There is so much we can do to support the University in helping people from different backgrounds, people who might be like I was 20 years ago, not knowing exactly what they want to do or the routes open to them, and to provide them with access to new opportunities. The LUMS Investors in Excellence programme means we as alumni can give something back and provide these opportunities to those who are following in our footsteps as members of the Lancaster community."