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Oxford Brookes (OBU) is a modern University in South East England with a student population of 17,000, of which 1,540 are based in Oxford Brookes Business School (OBBS). Chengdu University of Technology (CDUT) is based in the capital of Sichuan Province in Southwest China with a student population of 35,000 students. CDUT and Oxford Brookes have been in partnership since 2016, with a joint student population of 2,100. The programmes delivered with OBBS are International Foundation Diploma, BA (Hons) Business Management and BSc (Hons) Accountancy (PSRB accredited by ACCA).
The TNE partnership includes programme delivery alongside student mobility; a small number of students travel from China each year to complete their final year in the UK and there has been some joint virtual classroom innovation between UK and China students. Shorter CPD activity has also been carried out by Oxford Brookes Business School with one of CDUT’s major stakeholders, the Great Wall Drilling Company. Graduating students are successful in securing employment opportunities satisfying a much-needed demand in the local economy.
OBBS currently holds two of the key business school accreditations, from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) and the Association of Masters of Business Administration (AMBA). Accreditation is being sought from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). All OBBS TNE partnerships are considered as ‘additional campuses of OBBS’ by AACSB, and therefore the requirements of accreditation are extended to the partners. This has created a renewed spirit of partnership towards this shared goal.
The partnership is characterised by a strong working relationship between the UK and China teams both at strategic and operational level, including clear governance and a collaborative approach to curriculum design. This is driven by shared values via incorporation of the IDEAS Framework which governs the Oxford Brookes inclusive teaching and learning framework. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ACCA has a set of principles which have influenced the curriculum development to ensure it is correctly calibrated for the employment market and standards, We list below the way in which Sustainable Development Goals that have been integral to the development of the programmes.
Sustainability, in its broadest form, was seen by employergroups as an "admirable strategy” to pursue, noting the difficulties in measuring return on investment. Sustainable actions focused not only on themore commonly discussed environmental or ‘green’ factors, but more importantly considered the economic and socio-cultural added value. The impact here is to incorporate this thinking into all business decisions, even if there is thenthe decision not to enact recommendations those aspects have been debated (SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities) resulting in a more holistic strategic management mindset.
Meetings with alumni surfaced the need to expose graduatesto potential major changes in how organisations will operate in the short andmedium term. The impact of artificial intelligence into the workplace, be thatas a chatbox on a website or communications hub through to administrative tasksbeing automated, and more, are explored with live client project style projectsbeing the learning vehicle. Insights as to how organisations might work in theshort, medium and long term are understood and the consequences of changedworking practices considered (SDG 9 -Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
Employer forums evaluate the currency of the curriculum. A recent forum highlighted that the technical skills are well developed, but anarea to be developed is around ethical economic and financial practices. From a student perspective, exposure tocontemporary business debates is creating a toolkit of knowledge, skills, commercial insight, and social-cultural capital, with the potential to transform not only how they will work, but how their contemporaries will also. (SDG 8- Decent Work and Economic Growth).
The speed of change in business practice across the worldresults in numerous challenges for educational institutions, industry sectorsand for graduates entering those industries. Overall, the curriculum review andrevalidation facilitated the consolidation of leading educational practicesfrom across the sector from pastoral support, to working with local employersand authentic learning experiences. Including insights into businessgovernance, responsible management practices, artificial intelligence (SDG 4 - Quality Education) which tosome extent is future proofing both hard and soft graduate skills. The collaborative process also allows foroperational tensions to be designed out of partnership operations.
