A burgeoning online university has hand-picked The University of Queensland to teach students worldwide about a new way of doing business.
Universitas 21 Global, part of the rising international online learning industry, chose UQ to design a new Corporate Social Responsibility subject for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students.
“U21Global wanted to offer a new MBA elective that satisfies the growing industry demand for managers with in-depth understanding of corporate social responsibility,” Director of the U21Global MBA Program Dr Helen Lange said.
“The implementation of policies and practices which are socially responsible, while ensuring the survival of the business – or business sustainability - is a key challenge for current and future managers.
“We heard the UQ Business School offered an innovative subject on corporate sustainability, and following discussions, found the UQ curricula perfectly met our requirements,” Dr Lange said.
She said the joint development of an online program already offered at UQ was the first of its kind for U21Global.
“The online version of the subject will be available to MBA programs at both UQ and U21Global.”
Head of the UQ Business School Professor Tim Brailsford said corporate sustainability gave businesses room to prosper without detracting from the environment.
“It’s about how businesses innovate and make their processes and systems more efficient, at the same time as they have regard for environmental sustainability," Professor Brailsford said.
“With the right formula for corporate sustainability there is no harm to profitability.
“This is a developing area and it’s one in which UQ has thought-leadership and excellent links with industry and the Queensland Government.”
The U21Global arrangement will give more flexibility and easier access to UQ Business students.
“We’re looking to make our degrees more flexible and more accessible to UQ students and U21Global is a natural partner through which to harness expertise to do this,” Professor Brailsford said.
“The expertise of U21Global in online pedagogic delivery combines with the subject matter expertise at UQ to create a natural partnership which has potential to benefit both groups of students and both institutions.”
Dr Lange and Professor Brailsford praised the work of Dr Andrew Griffiths from the UQ Business School, who was seconded by U21Global to write the new course.
The course takes students through the heightened expectations for corporate social responsibility and the forces behind it, including: sustainable development; regulatory pressures; responsibilities to shareholders and consumers; and political processes. It examines corporate sustainability from the perspective of risk management, as a risk mitigation device, and also as an opportunity for the development of new products, markets and business models.
Dr Lange said the collaboration had worked so well that it would serve as a model for future subject development for U21Global. It complemented other significant U21Global accomplishments, including receiving the European Foundation for Management Development Certification of E-Learning in 2005. In 2005, U21Global also launched two new programs (a Master of Science in Information Systems Management and a Master of Science in Tourism and Travel Management) and achieved a 1000-student milestone. U21Global was formed in 2001 from a partnership between Universitas 21 and Thomson Learning and has 1400 students from 52 countries.
Media contact: Fiona Kennedy (UQ) + 61 7 3365 1088; + 61 413 380 012; fiona.kennedy@uq.edu.au; Adeline Siaw (U21Global) + 65 6410 1311; + 65 9824 6434; adeline.siaw@u21global.edu.sg
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