The start of the Jack Welch MBA programme has had to be delayed because of Mr Welch’s ill health. The inaugural MBA programme at the Jack Welch Management Institute at Chancellor University should have started on August 31.

Mr Welch, 73, was admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital on July 5 suffering from discitis, a rare but curable infection of the spine. According to his wife, Suzy Welch: “Jack is definitely on the mend, but he wants to be 100 per cent well before the school launches so that he can be deeply involved.”