THE University of Strathclyde Business School in Glasgow has launched a first of its kind MBA in Sustainable Energy Futures in response to the current global energy challenges and the drive to reach net zero by 2050.
The new MBA programme has been co-created by industry leaders, who understand the practical challenges facing the sector, alongside esteemed academics, resulting in a cutting-edge course with current and relevant content to drive solutions. Aimed at managers and leaders working in the energy and related – industry as well as the wider energy value chain, the course is designed to provide future leaders with the knowledge, skills and behaviours to stimulate change, innovation and adopt a systems-thinking approach to the challenges that we are seeing in the world today.
Participants will gain the knowledge to support their organisations understand the implication of NetZero and can work alongside other industry leaders to create strategies for innovation, change and social innovation.
Dr Phil Considine, Director of Executive Education at Strathclyde Business School said, “We are excited to be bringing this programme to market. We are facing unprecedented systemic pressure driven by a wide range of factors including geo-politics, climate change, net zero, cost of living, pension deficits, migration of people and global equity markets. Part of the solution to these problems relies on new ways of building, consuming and paying for gas and power. The MBA Sustainable Energy Futures provides the knowledge and skills required to navigate these challenges.
“As well as an innovative design and co-creation of the programme content, we have been equally focused on the cohort size and structure. It was important to us that all elements of the energy value chain from generation, transmission and trading, to pressure groups, suppliers, customers and the regulator are represented. We want to create an environment where problems are being critiqueds, analysed and solved in a holistic manner. Not only is this a hugely relevant MBA, but we expect the systems approach to create new practices that will contribute solutions to some of the most pressing global problems.”
Phil Considine added, “A key challenge is funding the path to NetZero our reputation in the UK for finance research and teaching, positions us well to develop new thinking in this area. We have used all our experience to design an applied, experiential and personalised programme course for industry leaders that will provide a framework for a better future.”
Mark Reddin, Director of Operations Enablement at Ovo Energy and programme sponsor said, “Strathclyde is known for its triple-accredited MBA (I have first-hand experience of this) and now we’ve created a programme which really listens to the global issues around climate change. I’m fortunate to be able to work with other leading industry bodies and experts to shape a programme that helps decision-makers develop a systems-thinking approach and develop a new mindset relevant to driving meaningful change within the energy sector. As the sponsor of the “Applied Strategic Management” module, I’m keen to stress the importance of looking at the strategy and scenario planning process from a people perspective… really digging deep into evaluating impacts across a broad range of stakeholders.”
Core modules will include topics such as Strategic Leadership Development, Accounting & Financial Practise of Energy Transactions, Energy Supply & Trading, as well as completion of a final project that will tackle a management challenge specific to the participant’s sector and organisation.
For eligible organisations this MBA programme can be part funded via the Apprenticeship Levy. The inaugural programme will begin in September 2022, for further information visit MBA in Sustainable Energy Futures.
