Principle 1 - Purpose

The University of Strathclyde will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.

As a place of useful learning, the University of Strathclyde is committed to ensuring that our students work closely with private, public and third sector organisations to develop a practical understanding as well as a theoretical framing of challenges and opportunities facing business and society. Throughout their time at Strathclyde, students will meet business and civil society representatives in the classroom, through site and field visits, during placements at home and overseas and develop relevant skills to help them identify opportunities and empower them to take on challenges.

Teaching that links theory and practice to cultivate a socially-aware mind-set:

• Accreditation and strategic exchanges on behalf of the Department of Accounting and Finance are enhanced by academic staff involvement with professional institutions such as the key position of chairing the ACCA Global Sustainability Forum and membership of: the ICAS Qualification Board; the Association of Corporate Treasures Education Board; United Nation’s Natural Value Initiative (UNEPFI) Research Strategy Group; and Glasgow Economic Development Sub-Board.
• MCR Pathways, a partnership involving Strathclyde which provides mentoring to raise aspirations of school pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, was commended in the Education category of the Inspiring City Awards.
• The Department of Accounting and Finance is working closely with professional bodies such as Institute for Chartered Accountants in Scotland (ICAS), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Chartered Institute of Bankers and Association of Corporate Treasurers on developing the professional curriculum and maintaining accreditation. As part of the accreditation processes Accounting and Finance regularly engage with these Professional Bodies on innovative socially responsible practices and are well positioned to respond to new accreditation and demand-driven course development at a local, national and international level as opportunities arise. For example, formalising this engagement Anton Colella, Chief Executive of ICAS holds a Visiting Professorship in the Department and hosts workshops each year with Accounting students on ethics and development in accounting
• Dr Andrea Coulson, Deputy Head of the Department of Accounting and Finance is a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Global Forum on Sustainability (previous Chair of the Forum 2010-15). The Forum aims to articulate and communicate the relevance of sustainability issues for the business community and the accountancy profession. It monitors international trends and developments in sustainability and leads ACCA’s contribution to policy development in this area. Andrea’s membership of the Forum facilitates the integration of contemporary development in accounting practice into Strathclyde’s teaching, research and knowledge exchange activities and allows Strathclyde Business School to have an input into the future direction of the accounting profession on social and environmental issues
• In the core class for Strathclyde MBA Entrepreneurial Management and Leadership (EML) Global Challenges, including aspects of the Sustainable Development Goals, Dr Katerina Nicolopoulou outlines triggers and opportunities for the development of Corporate Venturing.
• MSc students within the marketing department are tasked in Dr Samantha Murdy’s class with developing marketing plans for small communities throughout Scotland which lack funding, and students are taught to be aware strategically of how best to provide sustainable value for both residents and potential visitors and tourists.
• At both the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels, the Department of Accounting and Finance has introduced ethics training supported by the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI). This takes the form of interactive talks with feedback and mobile voting on moral issues in finance.
• In Professor Sarah Dodd’s capstone fourth year class, Issues and Trends, students are engaged in the exploration of the wider social impact of entrepreneurship and how it interacts with pressing contemporary trends, such as resource poverty and the sharing economy. Students present lectures on global megatrends, and their impact for entrepreneurship practice, policy and research.
• In Dr Niall MacKenzie’s Honours level Family Business class, students are taught about the importance of stewardship in running businesses for the benefit of future generations and the communities in which they operate within the context of family business.
• In Dr Lucrezia Casulli’s Business Clinic, Hunter Centre undergraduate students in their third year learn to support a number of organisations in the third sector as well as forprofit organisations that have a sustainability focus. Students are trained to understand the unique needs of these organisations though workshops as well as the hands-on work projects they carry out for the organisations.
• As leader of the Enterprise Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) stream of the third year Management Development Programme (MDP), Professor Jonathan Levie of The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship embedded business school students in The Renewable Energy VIP which is developing local renewable energy sources for off-grid communities in Africa and the ROVER VIP group, which is developing autonomous inspection vehicles for the offshore wind energy industry. Another Enterprise VIP group is developing an app that will train people to be aware of the nearest defibrillator to their current location. A fourth VIP group is developing an information and signposting website for new Strathclyde entrepreneurs.
• Second year entrepreneurship undergraduate students compete to enter a global social value focused competition (Values and Ventures competition, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth). One team from the university is chosen to represent the university at this each year. In 2016, five second year students put forward their idea of Befriend, an app that aims to combat loneliness in older people by connecting them to social activities and events in their local area. The team won a top three placing in the Elevator Pitch challenge.
• In the second year of the undergraduate entrepreneurship programme, students spend a semester working on the development of a social purpose business as part of a class led by Dr Dominic Chalmers.
• First year students in the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship undertake the "value challenge" project in groups every year which entails carrying out a small business activity starting with a mere idea and developing this to actually generate sales. All monies raised are given to a children’s charity in Glasgow.
• In Dr Aliakbar Jafari's Marketing classes, students are given a macro-marketing perspective, embedding markets and business practices within the macro political, economic, and sociocultural contexts in which they historically develop and evolve over time. Contemporary examples and cases are used to help students develop the necessary analytic skills to understand these interrelationships. Students find issues of economic downturn, unsustainable modes of production and consumption particularly insightful.