March has been a busy month for staff and students in the Management Development Programme, with challenging assessment, grant awards and seminar participation.
Second year students participated in the first assessed round of the Dragons' Den where they pitched their business idea to a panel of teaching staff and industry representatives from Deloitte.
Teams have been developing their business ideas throughout the academic year and have looked at these from a variety of different perspectives. The Dragons' Den now converts these projects into an industry-sponsored competition where one team from each group is selected to take part in a semi-final where 15 teams will compete for five final places. The semi-finals will be held in week 11 in front of a panel from the teaching team, industry and a member of last year's winning team. The final will be held in week 12 with the top three pitches winning prizes sponsored by Procter & Gamble.
The MDP Leadership Team has been successful in an application for a Curriculum for Excellence Scholarship from the Higher Education Academy. The money will be used to support further development of the community contribution and social responsibility element of the new MDP 3.
Following a successful bid to the Education Excellence Fund, under the theme of Developing and Supporting the Curriculum, three members of the teaching team travelled to Boston to participate in the Harvard Business School Seminar.
Fiona Conway, Viktor Dorfler and Hilary Kane experienced the case method of teaching during the two day seminar on March 15 and 16. Classroom and discussion management techniques learnt will influence the development of classes both for MDP and other classes that they are involved with. Teaching workshop for MDP tutors are planned for September 2013 to facilitate incorporation of principles into group sessions.
The Management Development Programme will be showcased through a workshop at the Strathclyde University-wide event. The focus of the workshop will be on the teaching and learning principles underpinning the programme and how these are evidenced through programme design, the years and individual sessions. The impact of research into teaching and learning on programme development will be highlighted. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the new look MDP and event announcements on how to register to attend will be issued nearer the time.
Kirsty McColl joined as programme administrator in March, bringing a wealth of administration and systems experience with her. Kirsty is located in the undergraduate office on the third floor of the Sir William Duncan Building and can be contacted on kirsty.mccoll@strath.ac.uk