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

Foreword The School of Management’s mission is to transform the practice of management around the world by creating and disseminating applied knowledge. Becoming a world leading management school for responsible management thinking and practice is central to our vision. We engage globally to make business better; everything we do as educators is designed to translate into more responsible management practice. We have always spanned the space between theory and practice as both a creator and a vector of change in the “real world”. I am proud to lead this unique school as we intensify our efforts to shape a more sustainable world.

Cranfield School of Management is part of a university built upon a focus on technology and management and is exclusively postgraduate and post-experience focused. Over half our students study part time whilst in full-time employment. We blend innovative, accessible methods of teaching with the academic and industry experience of our faculty to drive real and immediate organisational change through our students’ participation at Cranfield. Our unique ability to operate at the technology industry-management nexus, and our commitment to embedding sustainability into it, is demonstrated by our Sustainability MSc, which is jointly designed and delivered by the School of Management and the School of Water, Energy and Environment. We strive to practice what we preach. The University’s new corporate plan has elevated our responsible values through campus-wide sustainability goals and is driving greater commitment from faculty, staff and students. We promote sustainability literacy by teaching core sustainability modules across management programmes, as well as developing innovative specialist sustainability modules and programmes. In the 2023 Financial Times MBA Global rankings, our redesigned MBA programme was ranked 7th in the world for student diversity, 14th in the world for faculty diversity, 1st in the UK and 17th in the world for our commitment to reducing carbon footprint. In the next reporting period, we will be assessing and selecting the best frameworks to hold ourselves accountable to our progress in promoting responsible and sustainable leadership through our teaching and research.

We invest and support innovation in learning methods. We are developing new approaches to teaching which make lifelong learning more inclusive, accessible, and with a lower carbon footprint. We support faculty to develop innovative learning experiences which inform and inspire responsible management practice, including investing in the ‘Exploring Sustainable Futures’ game, which was showcased at COP26 - the only university-run workshop at the conference. Cranfield School of Management leads a major university-wide research initiative which brings together experts in management, engineering and natural sciences to create an ecosystems approach to understanding organisational and systems resilience. Our Gender, Leadership and Inclusion Centre is a hub for a thriving interdiciplinary research community that also underpins university-wide inclusion initiatives. Our emphasis on post-experience education means that we apply learning in the “real world” by addressing problems and delivering solutions to practitioners. We take a partnership approach to our research and teaching, delivering co-produced programmes and customised executive education. Our Executive MBA in partnership with Grant Thornton placed in the top 10 in the UK, in the Financial Times EMBA 2022 rankings. This close-to-practice approach ensures we prioritise teaching and research which address the skills gaps and challenges faced by business. We engage with local businesses and civic organisations to deepen our regional influence and contribute to responsible economic growth through the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship, as exemplified by the Ready for Net Zero Growth programme launched in 2022.

6 Sustainability in action