Lancaster University Management School
Loading the current phase, the actions taken and what is next.
If the school raises recognition, use the reply titled 'If they ask for recognition criteria'.
From: Baptiste Ceresa · Subject: A fifth-Palme review for consideration
Attach: nothing. Offer the criteria; do not invent current deadlines, selection or committee decisions.
Answer any specific question first, then use the matching reply below. These are replies to engagement, not additional unsolicited opening emails. Use the name of the person who actually replied and retain the existing contact route.
Owner: Baptiste Ceresa. Free examples: approved, with no conditions.
Upgrade outlook: 60-80%, corporate estimate for this school. He wrote: "regarding the preselection, it is more a % of chance to be upgraded".
Does payment determine the level? The level of Palmes is determined independently by the International Scientific Committee based on academic and international recognition criteria; the membership fee is simply calculated afterwards according to the level of Palmes awarded.
Eduniversal's licensing price list, sent by Cyrille on October 5, 2026: For a school holding 4 Palmes, Silver is EUR 5,990 per year and Gold is EUR 9,990 per year, excluding taxes, over a three-year license. Platinum is EUR 9,990 per year plus a program promotion pack. All three tiers include the certification widget. Platinum promotion packs: up to 5 programs EUR 13,345; up to 10 EUR 23,290; unlimited EUR 59,800. The pack billing period is not specified; use the formal quotation for that detail.
NYMM's guidance to sellers, membership plan: share only exceptionally, when really required. Do not attach it to routine first messages or free-example notes.
NYMM's guidance to sellers, recognition conversation: If the school raises recognition, use the reply titled 'If they ask for recognition criteria', with the fee and independent decision stated clearly. Keep the recognition text in reserve. Do not describe the school as formally preselected on the basis of this estimate. Keep the estimate in seller guidance; do not present it as an awarded or guaranteed level. The prepared recognition text states a one-time EUR 2,990 priority evaluation fee, separately from membership. That fee is not listed in the licensing price list supplied here.
Lancaster is a first contact. No earlier exchange with the school is on file, and we found no mention of Eduniversal or of Palmes in the pages collected on September 17, 2026. The contact on your list is the dean in post: Professor Claire Leitch has been dean since May 2022, after serving as interim dean from November 1, 2021. We found no announcement that she is leaving and no end date for her term in those pages.
Rose White, the External Accreditation Manager, writes that the school holds “five major accreditations” and names AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA among them. The 2030 Strategic Plan aspires to be “a top-five ranked management school in the UK” and to be internationally recognized. In three accreditation statements between January 2023 and May 2024, the dean spoke of the work that goes into gaining and maintaining accreditation. We found no public statement by the dean or the school on paid evaluations, for or against, so do not assume her view of them. The first email with the free AI examples draws on the school's own published claims.
Two things shape the timing. We found no published reason for urgency, so none should be used. And the dates on this page are our planning dates, not the school's. The University's 2022-23 annual accounts are for the year ended July 31, 2023; when the school's own budget requests are set is not published. On purchasing, the University says it keeps no approved supplier lists and chooses suppliers by quotation, with competitive tendering at higher values. We did not find the full thresholds in the published policy. Do not raise budget or purchasing. They come up after the school agrees to discuss a separate paid service.
The first message goes to her alone. Copy no one. She is the contact on your list. If she names a colleague, send the note to that person.
Our reading, not a published fact. She leads the school and is the contact on your list. Who approves an outside evaluation or a purchase is not published. Rose White is the External Accreditation Manager, works in the Dean's Office and manages the school's accreditations and its program rankings.
What the University publishes: it keeps no approved supplier lists and chooses suppliers by quotation, with competitive tendering at higher values. What is not published: who holds the budget at the school, who approves a purchase, and when the school's own budget requests are set.
Free AI examples first. These instructions apply to message 1 under What to send, its note and its timing. Send that first email only. If the school raises recognition, use the reply titled 'If they ask for recognition criteria'.
Free AI examples first. These instructions apply to message 1 under What to send, its note and its timing. Send that first email only. If the school raises recognition, use the reply titled 'If they ask for recognition criteria'.
Free AI examples first. These instructions apply to message 1 under What to send, its note and its timing. Send that first email only. If the school raises recognition, use the reply titled 'If they ask for recognition criteria'.
The Copy text button copies the message only, from the salutation to the signature. The lines above each message are for you and are not part of it.
Subject: What AI assistants say about LUMS
Attach: the short note with the examples. Open it from item 3, then print it or save it as a PDF. It is built from the text that goes to the school in item 3.
When: once the first-email dependencies under What we need from you are in hand. Our planning window is October 12 to November 13. That window is ours, not a school deadline. If it is not all in hand by November 13, send from January 18, 2027. A free-example message sent after October 18, 2026 needs the questions asked again first. Never send without the note.
Before sending: send only if the note is attached and shows its date, each question as asked and the two assistants whose answers it reports. Check each sentence of the message against the two examples in item 3. If a sentence is not true, change the message. If more than two weeks have passed since October 4, 2026, the questions must be asked again first.
When: once, after three weeks with no reply, and not between December 12 and January 10, 2027 or between March 20 and April 18, 2027. If the three-week date falls in an Avoid period, send on the first working day after it. Three weeks is our advice, not a published reply time.
After this: If there is no reply to the follow-up, stop. Do not write to anyone else at the school.
4. One page for the school, after the first conversationPrepared · sender checksOpen
Before sending: the questions named must be the questions in the note. The page describes the note already sent. It does not propose a second one.
| Person | Part in the decision | What to know | Contact so far |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professor Claire LeitchProfessor of Entrepreneurial Leadership, Dean. Dean since May 2022 | Receives the free-example message. Leads the school. Who approves an outside evaluation is not published. | Our reading of her published statements: she has called accreditations “independent benchmarks” (May 2024) and credits staff and students in several statements. She is listed on the University Council members page. We found no end date for her term in the pages collected on September 17, 2026. | No contact on file |
| Rose WhiteExternal Accreditation Manager | Not yet involved. Continue with her if the dean introduces her. | Works in the Dean's Office and manages the school's accreditations and its program rankings. She writes that the school holds five major accreditations. | No contact on file |
| Amy PendleburyMarketing, Recruitment & Alumni Manager | Not copied. Not yet involved. | Her title covers marketing, recruitment and alumni. The pages collected on September 17, 2026 do not show that she handles rankings or outside ratings, so she is not copied on the first note to the dean. We found no separate head of communications in those pages. | No contact on file |
| Sue AthertonHead of Faculty Operations | Not yet involved. | The people page gives her title as Head of Faculty Operations. Her own profile page reads “As Head of School Administration I lead a team of professional colleagues” with responsibility for quality assurance, external accreditation, admissions and program management, among other areas. Use the people-page title. Whether her team would take part in an evaluation is not published. | No contact on file |
| Professor Andrew AbbottAssociate Dean, Resources | Not yet involved. | His title is Associate Dean, Resources. What the post covers and who holds the budget are not published. Do not assume he is the budget contact. | No contact on file |
| Professor Marwan IzzeldinAssociate Dean, International | Not part of the route. | His title is Associate Dean, International. Do not write to him first. | No contact on file |
| Deborah Denton and Professor Andreas SchroederInterim Associate Dean Education, Senior Teaching Fellow; Professor of Information Systems, Interim Associate Dean- Engagement | Not a route. | Both titles are interim. Our advice: do not ask either to carry something new to the dean. We found no associate dean for graduate programs in the pages collected on September 17, 2026. | No contact on file |
- EduniversalBaptiste
- Write to · no contact yetProfessor Claire LeitchDean since May 2022
- Not copied · not yet involvedAmy PendleburyMarketing, Recruitment & Alumni Manager
- Dean's Office · not yet involvedRose WhiteExternal Accreditation Manager
- Pays · needed before any orderA budget holderNot named in public
- Not yet involvedSue AthertonHead of Faculty Operations
- Not yet involvedProfessor Andrew AbbottAssociate Dean, Resources
Introductions. No one in your network has yet been matched to Professor Leitch. Several of your past wins came through a personal introduction. Share the deans of your member schools, and each will be checked against her career, her boards and her co-authors. Any match appears on this map. For Lancaster, the plan is for a fellow dean to carry any introduction. Keep members of your committee out of the sales conversation.
Free AI examples first. These instructions apply to message 1 under What to send, its note and its timing. Send that first email only. If the school raises recognition, use the reply titled 'If they ask for recognition criteria'.
You send the free-example message with the short note attached
To the dean alone, with no one copied, once the first-email dependencies under What we need from you are in hand. Our planning window is October 12 to November 13. If it is not all in hand by November 13, send from January 18, 2027. A free-example message sent after October 18, 2026 needs the questions asked again first. Never send without the note. The message asks for nothing.
A reply, if one comes
No reply time is published, and none can be promised. If there is none after three weeks, send the one follow-up, but not between December 12 and January 10, 2027 or between March 20 and April 18, 2027. If the three-week date falls in an Avoid period, send on the first working day after it. Three weeks is our advice, not a published reply time. If there is no reply to the follow-up, stop. Do not write to anyone else at the school.
A short exchange on what the examples show
One question per message, with whoever replies. Keep it to the examples. After a reply, ask one thing: who at the school would use this. Do not make budget, purchasing or supplier registration a condition of receiving the free examples. Those come up after the school agrees to discuss a separate paid service. Our target is to finish by December 4, a week before the Michaelmas term ends on December 11. It is our planning date, not a school deadline, and it is never mentioned to the school.
An introduction by a fellow dean
Only if a match is found in your network. Our planning window is January 18 to February 12, 2027. Keep members of your committee out of the sales conversation.
One page for the school
Only after the first conversation, and only if the contact agrees. Never with the free-example message or the follow-up. The one-page brief describes the note already sent and asks one question: who at the school should be the contact for this. It does not propose a second note. If it has not gone by December 11, our planning window is February 15 to March 19, 2027.
A budget holder and a quotation
After the school engages: ask permission to discuss a separate service. Any later conversation about a paid service is a separate matter, opened using the confirmed terms below. What the University publishes on purchasing: Lancaster University states that it is not a contracting authority under the Procurement Act 2023, though it may choose to follow the public rules in some cases. It keeps no approved supplier lists. It chooses suppliers under its Financial Regulations, by quotation, with competitive tendering at higher values. Its tender portal carries opportunities generally over £50,000. We did not find the full thresholds or any single-supplier rule in the published policy. If the school decides to buy, ask the person who replies which form of quotation is needed and when the school's own requests are set.
Order form and invoice
No fee has been quoted to this school, and no order or date for one can be promised. The steps above are there to avoid mistakes. They do not promise a yes. On fees and on what an evaluation covers: Use the direct commercial answer on this page: the prepared recognition text states EUR 2,990 once for evaluation, membership is optional and separately priced in the licensing price list, and Cyrille confirms that the committee determines the Palme level independently. Request written scope or terms only for details not supplied here.
Good and Avoid are our advice, not the school's. They rest on the University's published term dates. The University notes that those dates do not apply to postgraduate courses, so they show when the University is in term, not when the MBA or MSc programs teach. Every date below is our planning date. None is a school deadline.
| Dates | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| Now to October 11 | Avoid | Welcome Week runs to October 4 and the Michaelmas term starts October 5. Our advice: let the first week of term pass. |
| October 12 to November 13 | Good | Inside the University's Michaelmas term (October 5 to December 11, 2026). Our planning window for the free-example message, with the short note attached. If it goes out after October 18, more than two weeks after the questions were asked, the questions must be asked again first. If the first-email dependencies under What we need from you are not in hand by November 13, send from January 18, 2027. A free-example message sent after October 18, 2026 needs the questions asked again first. Never send without the note. |
| November 14 to December 11 | The rest of the Michaelmas term. The exchange on what the examples show, if the school replies. Keep it to the examples. The one follow-up may go in these weeks. This is not a window for a free-example message. | |
| November 16 to 20 | Your convention in Biarritz, on your own calendar. It falls inside the University's Michaelmas term. Do not mention the convention in the free-example message or the follow-up. | |
| December 12 to January 10, 2027 | Avoid | Between the Michaelmas term, which ends December 11, and the Lent term, which starts January 11. Our advice: start nothing and chase nothing. If the school writes, answer. |
| January 18 to February 12, 2027 | Good | Inside the Lent term (January 11 to March 19, 2027). Our planning window for an introduction by a fellow dean, if a match is found, and for the free-example message if it has not gone by November 13. A free-example message sent after October 18, 2026 needs the questions asked again first. |
| February 15 to March 19, 2027 | Good | Inside the Lent term, which ends March 19. Our planning window for the one page, if it has not gone already. It goes only after the first conversation, and only if the contact agrees. |
| March 20 to April 18, 2027 | Avoid | Between the Lent term, which ends March 19, and the Summer term, which starts April 19. Our advice: start nothing and chase nothing. If the school writes, answer. |
| April 19 to June 25, 2027 | Summer term. The University keeps a single summer exam period. Its exact dates are not published, so ask before sending anything that needs a reply. | |
| August 1 to July 31 | The University's financial year, on the evidence of its 2022-23 annual accounts, which are for the year ended July 31, 2023. It is the University's year, not the school's own budget cycle. The months in which the budget is set are not published, so no date on this page is a budget deadline. Do not raise budget. If the school itself asks what comes next, ask the person who replies when the school's own requests are set. |
Free AI examples first. These instructions apply to message 1 under What to send, its note and its timing. Send that first email only. If the school raises recognition, use the reply titled 'If they ask for recognition criteria'.
These are questions to be ready for. The school has not asked any of them.
| Item | Why it matters here |
|---|---|
| Whether anything beyond the free examples is offered to this school, such as help in acting on them, or a repeat of the questions | The one-page brief describes the note only. Sellers offer nothing more. |
| Confirmation that you will correct the comparison if the school shows that we misread its published pages | The free-example note and the answer about errors promise to correct our comparison if the school shows that we misread its pages. Confirm that correction commitment before sending the first email; the free offer itself was confirmed by Cyrille on October 5. The first email waits for that confirmation. We report what the assistants answered without altering it, with the date. |
| How old the examples may be when they are sent | The answers are from October 4, 2026, and the free-example message gives that date. Each question was asked once, and answers vary from one asking to the next. This page advises asking the questions again if the message goes out more than two weeks later. The limit is yours to set. |
| Confirmation of Lancaster's current level on your list | This page uses 4 Palmes, from your list. We found no mention of Palmes in the pages collected on September 17, 2026. |
| Confirmation of your convention dates and place | This page uses November 16 to 20 in Biarritz, from your calendar. Sellers do not mention the convention in the free-example message or the follow-up. Any invitation is sent by Eduniversal separately. |
| Baptiste Ceresa's title and contact details for the signature | The drafts are signed with his name and Eduniversal only. A dean should be able to see who is writing. The free-example message is not sent until they are in the signature. |
| Any earlier contact with Lancaster in your own records | We found no mention of Eduniversal in the pages collected on September 17, 2026. An earlier exchange would change how a free-example message from Baptiste is read. |
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Level today | 4 Palmes (from your list, to be confirmed by you) |
| Upgrade outlook | 60-80% (corporate estimate; not a formal preselection; no guarantee) |
| Owner at Eduniversal | Baptiste Ceresa |
| Write to | Professor Claire Leitch. Copy no one. |
| Decides | Professor Claire Leitch, Dean (our reading, not a published fact; the contact on your list; who approves an outside evaluation or a purchase is not published) |
| Route | The dean. Continue with the Dean's Office if the dean introduces it. A budget holder and a quotation only if the school decides to buy |
| Quoted so far | Nothing. No fee has been quoted to this school. |
| Status | Prepared, nothing sent |