Sustainability in action: United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education (UN PRME)

Principle 2 | Values

We incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.

2a: Bring sustainability knowledge to a wider student base by translating content from specialist sustainability modules to shorter sessions to be used in teaching across management disciplines (e.g. biodiversity and business). 2b: Assess and select framework(s) for evaluating our progress in embedding sustainability and responsible management across our curricula (e.g. UN Global Compact Principles). 2c: Review potential approaches for measuring our application of the PRME principles in teaching and learning (e.g. student feedback, course reviews). 2d: Articulate sustainable and responsible management practice more explicitly in the School of Management’s vision and 2030 strategy. Goals: Our purpose is underpinned by our shared values which guide our day-to-day decisions and actions. In 2020, we refined and restated the University’s corporate values after an extensive consultation with over 800 members of staff. The Cranfield values reflect the values of global social responsibility, notably our value to create impact and make the world a better place. In our most recent Staff Pulse Survey (December 2022 to January 2023), 86% of staff felt our values were being lived day-to day some or most of the time. This has been achieved by toolkits which help staff to translate these values into day-to-day actions. In our university-wide initiative, as part of signing up to the SDG Accord, there has been an effort to support the Sustainable Development Goals through our research and teaching. Over the last two years, we have continued to widen the reach of our specialist sustainability modules by integrating them into our general management courses. We have also increased the depth of our specialist sustainability teaching by introducing new modules including Green and Sustainable Finance and Energy and Entrepreneurship. The Sustainable Business Group runs two interdisciplinary master’s level programmes that have been designed and run with the School of Water, Energy and Environment. The content created for these specialist courses informs the sustainability modules on more general management programmes. This has been catalysed both by student demand and a recognition from course directors of the importance of embedding global social responsibility within management education. We will continue to bring sustainability knowledge and to a wider student base by integrating content and expertise from specialist modules to teaching across management disciplines. Our triple-accredited full-time MBA programme has embedded a deep self-awareness of personal purpose and values into the teaching led by Professor Richard Kwiatkowski: “Good leadership starts with the person’s self-awareness about their strengths and building on difference – an unashamedly psychological approach based on sound theory and empirical evidence applied practically.” Driven by industry demand, we are redesigning the Retail and Digital Banking MSc to become the Sustainable and Digital Banking MSc. This unique course is also available via apprenticeship route and therefore delivered directly to professionals.

10 Sustainability in action