Also in the news
Professor appointed chair to lead QAA Finance Subject Benchmark Statement
Professor Andrew Marshall of the Department of Accounting and Finance, Strathclyde Business School, has been appointed to lead the review of the QAA Finance Subject Benchmark Statement in 2024-25.
This follows an expression of interest phase earlier this year with successful appointments having been made from QAA member institutions across the UK. Subject Benchmark Statements, which have been drafted and published by QAA for over two decades, describe the nature of study and the academic standards expected of graduates in specific subject areas. They show what graduates can reasonably be expected to know, do and understand at the end of their studies.
Chairs and Deputy Chairs, alongside Advisory Groups, lead the development of Statements in their subject area to ensure they serve as a useful resource for discipline communities and can inform a range of purposes - including as reference points in the design, delivery and review of academic courses. The process of creating and reviewing subject benchmarks is facilitated by QAA.
As well as Professor Marshall being named Chair of the Finance group, deputy chairs were selected, namely Dr Abraham Adu of the University of Aberdeen and Dr Susan Smith, University College London.
To ensure the subject benchmark reviews take into account a diverse and broad spectrum of ideas, opinion and experience, each subject area has its own advisory group, comprising members of the academic community, employers, professional, statutory and regulatory bodies (PSRBs), and students.
Professor awarded contract to support business’s sustainability strategy
Professor Iain Black has been awarded a contract to support the development of Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Transmission’s new sustainability strategy under the title of ‘What good looks like’.
Along with research associate Hari Risal from the Department of Accounting and Finance, they will support the internal team to develop a strategy and set appropriate, leading and ambitious greenhouse gas emissions reduction, biodiversity and social impact targets. These targets aim to ensure that the organisation’s vital work to build the electricity transmission network that Scotland needs to transition to a low carbon economy, also contributes to global efforts to stay within planetary boundaries, including limiting global warming to below 2 degrees centigrade.
BEYON and SBS collaborate on Integrated Leadership Programme
December saw the launch of the first Strathclyde Executive Education and Development (SEED) and Beyon Integrated Leadership Programme (BILD) for senior directors. Beyon are the leading Telecoms business in Bahrain and the programme focused on their senior leaders transforming the business from a large regional Telecoms company to a world class technology business. The programme was co-created by SEED and the Beyon Executive Leadership Team and targeted Divisional Directors and Corporate Senior Leaders .
We were delighted to welcome HM Ambassador to Bahrain Alastair Long to join us and to reinforce the importance of both the programme and the UK’s wider relationship with Bahrain. Alastair welcomed the students to the five-day programme which was delivered by a team consisting of Strathclyde academics Professor Mark Cummins, Dr Steve Paton and Dr Phil Considine and Global Practitioners Brian Mooney and Wolfgang Sack.
Director of Strathclyde Executive Education and Development, Phil Considine said, "The Beyon Senior Leaders Programme is a co-creation between Strathclyde Business School, the Beyon senior leadership and the programme participants. This ensures that all learning is focused on developing the senior leadership capabilities needed to navigate the developing landscape that the business operates in. This partnership ensures that, whilst the programme is delivered by our specialist executive education faculty, it integrates relevant practical insights, fosters peer learning & networking and delivers impactful, actionable takeaways."
PrOPEL Hub conference to take place in March
The ESRC PrOPEL Hub Conference: Insights for Productivity in UK Workplaces, will take place at Strathclyde on March 6 and 7.
The ESRC Productivity Outcomes of Workplace Practice, Engagement & Learning (PrOPEL) Hub launched in 2020, bringing together experts from ten universities in all four nations of the UK, along with the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development. PrOPEL Hub generates and shares insights on how effective workplace practices and progressive people management can deliver better jobs and workplaces, improved employee engagement and wellbeing, and enhanced innovation performance and productivity.
Over the last four years, ESRC PrOPEL Hub partners have disseminated key insights from a series of cutting-edge research projects supported by the ESRC’s portfolio: ‘Transforming Productivity: Management Practices & Employee Engagement’. These projects have produced major new contributions to evidence on: ‘what works’ in workplace wellbeing strategies; good practice in conflict management; people management and job quality strategies that support work engagement and innovative work behaviours; and how we can support management capacity-building that can improve productivity in micro-enterprises.
The two-day conference in Glasgow will share what has been learned and identify next steps, insights for business stakeholders and implications for policy.
Speakers include:
- Prof Alan Felstead, Cardiff University
- Prof Patricia Findlay, University of Strathclyde
- Prof Monder Ram, Aston University
- Prof Cher Li, Aston University
- Prof Martin McCracken, Ulster University
- Prof Sara Connolly, University of Leicester
- Prof Graeme Roy, University of Glasgow
- Prof Richard Saundry, University of Westminster
- Prof Paul Latreille, University of Sheffield
- Prof Peter Urwin, University of Westminster
- Prof Kevin Daniels, University of East Anglia
- Dr Stewart Johnstone, University of Strathclyde
- Dr Maria Wishart, University of Warwick
- And many other leading researchers...
The conference will take place at the Technology and Innovation Centre and further information can be found here:
Leadership in a VUCA World with Professor Robin Watson
Strathclyde Business School’s newly appointed Visiting Professor, Robin Watson, CBE, joined David Hillier on campus to share an ‘in conversation’ presentation on ‘Leadership in a VUCA World’ on January 18.
Professor Watson spoke to an audience of current MBA students, MBA alumni, and a variety of our corporate and executive education partners and clients. It was a great evening, full of interesting discussion, thought-provoking questions, and networking.
Marketing for Schools Competition 2023-24
The Marketing Department was delighted to receive a high number of entries from school pupils across Glasgow for their annual Marketing for Schools Competition. Following the success of the UCI cycling championship held in Glasgow in summer 2023, the theme for this year’s competition focused on initiatives to encourage cycling in the local community.
The judging panel consisted of all members of Marketing Department and the high quality of shortlisted submissions made it a challenging task to select a top three. Congratulations to winners:
1st Prize: St Ninian’s High School, Eastwood with ‘Bike life, better life’ by Orlaith Campbell and Anna Hannan
2nd Prize: Bishopbriggs Academy with ‘Turn the Pedal, Turn the World by Leona Pate
3rd Prize: St Ninian’s High School, Eastwood with ‘Don’t Shout, Get Out’ by Grace Whyte and Olivia Mulligan
Elizabeth McKee and Jane Johnstone from the Department of Marketing, who led the competition, look forward to visiting each school to celebrate with pupils and present awards in due course.
Launch of neuroinclusive classroom project
January saw the launch of the project - The Neuro-inclusive SBS Classroom - led by Dr Lucrezia Casulli and Dr Suzanne Mawson of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation.
Supported by SBS Teaching Innovation Fund, the project aims to raise awareness of SBS students’ neurodiverse needs. The team is assisted by the expertise of Mrs Fiona Williams, a trained Speech and Language Therapist - and a Strathclyde alumna - and Dr Susan McCool from the Department of Psychological Sciences and Health at Strathclyde.
Soon, all SBS students who self-identify as neurodivergent will be invited to have their say on how we can best support them to develop their full potential. If interested in taking part, please email: lucrezia.casulli@strath.ac.uk
Marketing department continues C&C collaboration
The Department of Marketing has once again successfully collaborated with the C&C Group. The C&C Group sponsors the Brand Management class assignment in which students must develop a brand plan.
Honours students Amy Sills, Matthew Adams, Catriona Stewart, Jodie Dinnie and Cara Begbie represent the top five finalists and will present their brand plans to the commercial team at C&C Group in March when the overall winner will be announced.
This engagement with industry allows students in the class to work on a real life brand and apply learnings and theory to practice, cementing the Department of Marketing and the University of Strathclyde as the ‘place of useful learning’.
COP28 reflection event attracts multidisciplinary audience
Professor Emma Macdonald, Charles Huang Chair and Director, Stephen Young Institute, was one of four Strathclyde academics who led the "What Happened at COP28?" event on January 18 at the Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) on campus.
Despite the icy cold evening, staff and students from across the University community met to discuss key takeaways from the UN’s 2023 climate conference in Dubai. Professor Emma Macdonald was joined by Professor Francesco Sindico from Strathclyde Law School, Dr Scott Strachan from Strathclyde Electronic and Electronic Engineering and Dr Liliana Fonseca from the European Policies Research Centre.
Emma said, "The four of us at the front of the room had been the lucky ones selected for a Blue Zone Observer pass - the area of the COP where international negotiations take place - issued to University of Strathclyde. With 100,000 attendees and hundreds of meetings and events taking place across the COP28 event, we didn’t bump into each other while in Dubai but it was great to reflect at the event last week on what we had each paid attention to during the conference, especially as we are each from a different faculty and discipline."
The audience contributed many interesting and thoughtful insights and questions at what was a very engaging session.
Marketing DBA Candidate named one of UK’s Most Impressive Female Entrepreneurs
DBA candidate Anna Stella has made the 2014 'f:Entrepreneur' top list, which includes the UK's most impressive female entrepreneurs by Small Business Britain.
Anna, who is in the final stages of her DBA at Strathclyde University, is currently researching marketing outsourcing for small businesses. To learn more about 'f:Entrepreneur by Small Business Britain, visit https://f-entrepreneur.com/ialso-top-100-bio/anna-stella/
Graduate Apprenticeships team prepare for recruitment showcase
December was a busy month for the apprenticeship degrees team, who were tirelessly preparing term two classes on MyPlace ahead of the release to students before Christmas. Friday, December 8 saw the final Campus Day for term one. This was for the Business and Management Fundamentals class facilitated by Tom Bourkel and the class focussed on the assessed group presentations. All groups delivered fantastic presentations.
This month is term two of the Graduate Apprenticeship programme. First and fourth-year students were on campus on Friday January 19 when Iain Moir delivered a session on procurement to Y1 students, followed by a session on leadership styles by Kostas Tomazos in the afternoon.
Stathis Tapinos facilitated group presentations for our returning fourth-year students as part of the assessment for strategy, risk, and scenario planning. In the afternoon, our dedicated Team of Learning Advisors – Nicola Holmes, Patricia Wallace and Catherine Coyne - continued guiding the students with their final year projects by hosting a project session.
Recruitment activities for the academic year 2024/2025 are about to kick off, beginning with the first Recruitment Showcase at the Teaching and Learning Building on Thursday, January 25. With participation from more than 20 GA business partners, including Rolls Royce, JP Morgan, BAE Systems, Morrisons and Leonardo, with an impressive attendance of over 200 guests expected, it’s anticipated this event will be both engaging and highly successful.
MBA graduates return to share experience
Recent full-time MBA graduates – Nilam Shete, Shewta Samdadia and Akash Singh came back to campus to meet with the January 2024 cohort of fulltime MBAs to give them advice and answer questions about the student experience.
While here, they picked up their awards for best MBA projects and best overall MBA student. Shweta picked up the award for "best overall full time MBA student" and, together with Akash, was also given the "best project prize" for their joint project.
Nilam was awarded the dean’s commendation for her final project, one of eight MBA students.
The MBA team was delighted to welcome back our alumni to campus to speak to the students and receive their awards.
MBA reunion in Greece
Several members of the Keen MBA (1997-98) class had a wonderful weekend in Athens in late September 2023. The Greek contingent created a fantastic itinerary encompassing history, culture, food and drink, with MBA friends joining from UK, USA, Denmark and Argentina.
BIS Quarterly Review publication
Dr Livia Pancotto, Department of Accounting and Finance, together with colleagues at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), has published a piece of work titled "Buy Now, Pay Later: A Cross Country Analysis" within the BIS Quarterly Review. https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt2312e.htm)
The article – published December 2023 – has now been referenced by several reputable media outlets, including Bloomberg, Reuters, PYMNTS and also the Financial Times.