Former BT regional director to head Napier business school

Edinburgh Napier University has appointed a senior BT official to head its business school.

Gail Boag takes on the role of dean following seven years with the telecoms giant which saw her become a regional director and member of the BT Scotland board. She comes to the university’s Craiglockhart-based business school with a “wealth of experience”, having worked with a range of organisations from start-ups to global corporations.

Boag, who studied at the Capital institution when it was Napier College in the 1980s, said: “It’s unusual for someone with my business background to take up a role as dean but I like the idea of helping young people achieve their potential and, after many years building myskillsandexperience,higher education is a sector which interests me and where I know I can make a difference.

“This is a really interesting time for the sector, which has been experiencing a period of unprecedented change, with increasing student demand, new providers emerging, new learning models, increased globalisation and a reduction in the availability of national funding.”

The programmes delivered to the business school’s 8,000 students include accountancy, finance, law, international business, marketing, sales, tourism and languages.

The school is also at the heart of the university’s “transnational” education programmes. 0 New dean Gail Boag: ‘really interesting time for the sector’