University of Winchester Business School

Introduction and Institutional Background

The University of Winchester Business School offers a full range of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes with a growing number of academics and administrative colleagues. PRME is the framing for our programmes and our research agenda embraces many aspects of ‘responsible management’, including poverty, food, green spaces, climate change education, ethics, responsible leadership, sustainability and social responsibility. The PRME Principles and SDG's are very important to us. The University of Winchester is a thriving community with a deep commitment to teaching and research excellence established in 1840 by the Church of England. Everything we do is underpinned by a commitment to our values. We are a community committed to making a difference and passionate about seeing individuals and communities flourish. Winchester has worked closely with the UN Global Compact UK Network and the UK-based Business in the Community. Back in 2012, Winchester Business School established The Hoare Centre for Responsible Management, which aims to bring together the private, public and civil society sectors, in order to develop a community of practice, dedicated to the creation of a more equitable and sustainable economy and society through the following activities: developing responsible leaders, conducting practical research, building a responsible management community. 2017 saw the launch of the Centre for Climate Change Education and Communication - now the Centre for Climate Change and Action - that builds on the University’s strategy to embed climate change education for all students, regardless of discipline. The fact that the PRME Principles (and the SDGs) align so closely to the values and mission of the University makes our commitment to PRME a central part of the vision of the Business School and helps to shape our future in being part of the continuing development of PRME.

One of the SDG integration Challenges

Mapping of SDGs in the curriculum (the method used for doing it)

The Action

The Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs), provide an aspirational but complex framework for the next decade and beyond. At Winchester, the integration of the SDGs is the driving imperative in our continuum of further embedding responsible management education. COVID-19 has impacted all Universities and their communities in the last year.

However, the collaborative approach to developing responsible management education continues and this includes SDGs working with other organisations in this space.

One example of this is the Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS) - the sustainability charity of the UK National Union of Students (NUS) and it’s ‘Responsible Futures’ programme.This takes a whole institution approach and uses the framework of the Formal Curriculum (courses/ programmes), Informal Curriculum (campus/ community activities) and Subliminal Curriculum (organisational policy/ practices) and encompasses both the SDGs and the University values. Using this process, progress has been made on embedding the SDGs across all Faculties of the University.

In addition, the PRME principles have continued to underpin our formal curriculum on our Business Management degrees from first year undergraduates, to Masters students.

An example of an undergraduate module include 'Sustainability in Business' as in the second year, students are required, as part of their module assessment to analyse organisation sustainability approaches and reporting methods using frameworks such as the Gap Frame. and the United Nations Global Compact SDG Compass. Students gain value from applied knowledge of assessing organisational approaches to the achievement of SDGs

In terms of postgraduate provision, the Masters In Business Administration (MBA) (and other Masters level programmes such as the Applied Global Practice, International Business and the new Sustainability Masters) include core modules on Sustainability, Ethics and Responsibility.The new MSc Sustainability and Social Justice programme is designed to challenge current thinking on the way in which individuals engage with, and organisations operate within an increasingly turbulent global environment. It builds upon the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Management Education and was designed alongside the UN SDGs. Core modules comprise Principles of Responsible Management, Social Justice, Principles of Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change and Policy Responses, International Human Rights and Social (in)Justice.

Other Master’s level programmes such as International Business and Project Management include a core module on the Principles of Responsible Management. Students engage with the analysis of organisational practices through the lens of ‘The Great Reset’ and ‘Build Back Better’. The Executive Masters in Business Administration (MBA) comprises a module on Leadership, Sustainability and Ethics which enables professional practitioners to reflect on the alignment of organisational leadership with SDGs.

The Outcome and Impact

The PRiMEtime article on ‘Taking a whole University approach to integrating the SDGs for details: primetime.unprme.org/2021/02/09/taking-a- whole-university-approach-to-integrating-the- sdgs-the-university-of-winchester

Lesson Learned: issues / challenges when introducing the innovation, and how to resolve them

In addition to integrating SDG into the standard curriculum, a range of more 'informal curriculum' opportunities for students (and staff - and some for the wider community) are organised. These helped students to see a wider variety of practical projects and ideas as well as the more theoretical side of the issues. Examples have included ensuring that during Welcome Week in September, there are talks on our Green Campus initiatives and Green Travel options. All new staff are given an environmental induction as part of their University induction programme and there are departmental- level environmental induction checklists.

The University normally hosts an annual Go Green Week in collaboration with the Student Union. This features a range of activities promoting a sustainable campus and lifestyle. Go Green Week in March 2021 necessitated a virtual approach, examples of these online activities included a Q&A of University Staff held by the Sustainability Society, Hedgehog Friendly Campus online meetings and the Fair Trade Group posed a food challenge, quiz and Webinar with Katie Burgess, a Director of the Fairtrade Foundation. On campus, a food recycling trial took place, trees were planted, reusable and recycled cups were given away to coffee drinkers and a fair trade menu ran all week.Winchester’s “Bag it up” scheme (that simultaneously reduces waste and makes it easy for students to donate goods to local charities supporting homeless and other vulnerable communities) continued to be popular. Students are provided with bags and stickers for clothing, bedding, homeware, kitchenware, books and other items. 8.5 tonnes have been redistributed in the last 3 years.The scheme was included in the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) 'Little Book of Green' book launched at the Times Higher Education (THE) World Academic Summit. Finally there continues to be events in the 'Town and Gown' series which are open to the staff, students and the public and highlight social, economic and environmental issues. To summarise, using a combined approach of ensuring that the formal curriculum reflects the issues around the SDG - and - combining this with other more informal and/or practical events helps the students to understand theory in practice and any issues that arise when implementing strategies in the 'real world.'

Resources in Need to Adopt or Adapt this Approach

In order to adopt the approach outlined above there is a need to organise staff time - this can be difficult with full workloads but by having an emphasis on research and a real commitment by the University we are able to fully adopt this combined approach. The expertise of our staff, the emphasis on relevant research centres such as Peoplescapes, Centre for Responsible Management and the University Centre for Climate Change Education and Action and the invitations to relevant guest speakers all serve to enhance and enrich our approach.

Short, medium, and/or long term Goals

In the short and medium term we will continue to develop our programmes and ensure that the SDG's are included both explicitly where relevant and implicitly in terms of providing a range of events in terms of links with the local community, the broader region, and contributing to relevant uk and global policies where able.