Responsibility at CBS

Introduction

In recent years, CBS PRME has conducted an investigation into the responsible programme content and competencies for Bachelor students in all 19 CBS programmes. The results of the analysis and the competencies students attain at the end of their Bachelor years were gathered in a collection of individual reports that provide information on the insights provided by CBS PRME Students, faculty and study boards.

The individual reports provide, for each programme, an overview of:

• Responsible management course content
• Responsible management competencies
• Faculty teaching and engaged in responsible management education within the programme

The reports highlight the responsible management content “red thread” throughout the programmes and show how courses relate to one another and progress towards the desired competencies.

Reasoning and purpose

The reports are part of CBS’ engagement in the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME). By looking in depth at all 19 study programmes, the courses taught and the competencies attained by students, we come to a better understanding of the different interpretations of responsibility in diverse teaching and learning contexts. While ‘International Shipping and Trade’ students gain the ability to reflect explicitly on the impact on society of their own actions, their firm’s policies and their industry’s practices, ‘HA(mat.)’ students gain the ability to ensure the appropriate use of analytical methods in order to reach objective conclusions, whereas ‘English og Organisationskommunikation’ students attain the ability to take measures to ensure precise communication, avoiding ambiguities and misunderstandings.

The information in the individual reports also serves to start up discussions among students, faculty and study board members on the responsible competencies their programmes equip the students with and on how the existing curricula encompasses learnings from the different perspectives of responsible management.

Main audience

The information provided in the reports is meant to be accessed and used by CBS bachelor course coordinators and teaching faculty who might use it in adjusting their own lecture plan and teaching methods according to other programme courses and student competencies. Bachelor Programme Study Boards might find useful the overview of responsible management content in order to consider the present and future development of student competencies. Students gain a better understanding of the aims of their education, the reasoning behind certain responsible management learnings and their overall abilities once they graduate from the programme.

Method

During the project, each study programme underwent a two-phase process. The first phase involved conducting an initial review of the curriculum, student focus groups and analysis of the course syllabi in order to establish the initial perception of responsible management content in courses. Programme faculty, course coordinators and study board directors later developed short descriptions of the content identified on the basis of the focus groups and course syllabi. Findings from these steps are presented in the part entitled ‘Semester overview of responsible management’. This helped in establishing a ‘Programme Overview’ where light blue courses (corner stone courses) reflect relevant responsible management content and the dark blue courses (flagship courses) indicate an explicit and highly relevant responsible management focus in the programme.

In the second phase of the project each study board formulated specific responsible management competencies that the students are expected to possess once they graduate from the programme. These competencies sum up the responsible management content and reflect the way in which responsibility is viewed in the different study lines.

Each study programme has also identified a programme ambassador from among their faculty. Ambassadors are selected based on their familiarity with both the programme and its responsible management content. The role of the ambassadors is to ensure that the programme content is accurately reflected in the overview and to act as a contact point for interested faculty and students.

Findings

The reports showcase what is already present in the CBS bachelor curriculum in terms of responsible management and competencies and how students are already explicitly or implicitly taught notions of responsibility within their respective field of interest. It has also become apparent that there is a high interest from students to understand and reflect on the competencies they gain through their education and how it prepares them towards being responsible leaders. Explicit reflection from the study boards was needed in reaching the responsible management progression and competencies for each study line.

Responsible management is already present in all CBS bachelor study programmes in various degrees and takes on diverse definitions according to each study’s specific competency aims. Responsibility in management education at CBS does not take a “one-size-fits-all” approach, rather it is a reflection of the diversity that defines each programme.

Quotes

“The Study Board of the BSc in International Business (IB) is committed to providing its graduates with distinct responsible management competencies. This is reflected in continuous assessment of course and programme curricula as means of achieving the desired competencies. The investigation into what responsibility-related competencies mean to BSc IB students and how they permeate through the programme curriculum provides valuable feedback to programme management in its attempt to provide coherent teaching of such competencies.” - Bersant Hobdari, Associate Professor, Study Board Director of BSc International Business

“Higher education always involves the acquisition of skills. However, responsible higher education seeks to develop critical, creative and innovative thinking about the challenges that we collectively face. IBP therefore offers an unbeatable education considering the interplay between business and politics but at the same time addresses issues such as sustainability, inequality and disadvantage.” - Edward Ashbee, Associate Professor, Programme Director and Julian Blaauw, student and Vice-chair for International Business and Politics

For further questions, please contact: Lavinia Iosif-Lazar: li.msc@cbs.dk

Overview Bachelor Study Programmes (2019)

PROGRAMME	last update
BSc International Business in Asia	October 2020
BSc Business, Language and Culture	October 2020
HA Erhvervsøkonomi Filosofi	October 2020
HA Erhvervsøkonomi Informationsteknologi	October 2020
HA Almen Erhvervsøkonomi	October 2020
HA Erhvervsøkonomi - Erhvervsjura	October 2020
HA Erhvervsøkonomi og Projektledelse	October 2020
HA Erhvervsøkonomi - Virksomhedskommunikation	October 2020
HA Erhvervsøkonomi - Matematik	October 2020
BSc International Business	October 2020
BSc International Business and Politics	October 2020
BA Interkulturel Markedskommunikation	October 2020
BSc International Shipping and Trade	October 2020
BSc Business Administration and Service Management: Arts and Culture	October 2020
BSc Business Administration and Service Management: Service and Innovation	October 2020
BSc Business Administration and Service Management: Tourism and Hospitality	October 2020
BSc Business Administration and Sociology	October 2020