̽����Ƶ has been honoured with the most prestigious prize for UK businesses, the King’s Awards for Enterprise.

THE secured the accolade in the international trade category, recognising its growth from a UK policy magazine into a global higher education business working with universities, organisations and governments around the world.

While THE continues to be a trusted source of news and information about the sector, it has demonstrated rapid growth as a provider of higher education data, insights and services, and now boasts more than 700 customers in 85 countries. Its portfolio includes university rankings, data products, global events and consultancy.

THE becomes one of only 252 organisations in the UK to be recognised under the initiative, which was established by Queen Elizabeth II and is now in its 58th year.

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Paul Howarth, THE’s chief executive, said the award was “an absolute career highlight for me and an amazing seal of approval for the tremendous work ̽����Ƶ does for one of the world’s most important sectors – higher education”.

“Since joining the business in 2020, I have been so impressed by the incredible hard work that our staff, not just in the UK but around the world, put in to enable higher education to reach its full potential, and I believe that together we will build a better, more sustainable future,” Mr Howarth said.

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“We hope this achievement and recognition will open many more opportunities for us to secure new contracts and venture into new markets with universities, governments and the private sector globally.”

THE is owned by Inflexion Private Equity, which acquired the business in 2019. It has acquired five businesses in the past four years, including Poets&Quants, Inside Higher Ed, student events organiser BMI and code-based analysis provider dataHE.

It now reaches a combined audience of tens of millions of academics, students and policymakers annually, and more than 4,900 universities from 143 countries participate in its rankings.

His Majesty the King will host a reception for awards winners at Windsor Castle at a later date.

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