Search results

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of how a UK business school has explicitly linked sustainability to employability and embedded these into all levels of its undergraduate and postgraduate degree portfolio.

This case study features Nottingham Business School’s (NBS’s) journey of linking sustainability with employability to achieve the University’s strategic objectives and help deliver on the sustainable development goals (SDGs). After reviewing all courses, a cross-school approach was adopted in re-designing the curriculum, first at undergraduate and later postgraduate level. Partnerships, both internal and external were developed, involving the employability and enterprise teams, the University’s students and alumni, local employers, local authorities and businesses and charities. Feedback from graduates is included.

When NBS introduced new undergraduate modules in 2012, there was resistance with concerns over already crammed curricula and the perceived irrelevance of sustainability. This changed as students realised that an understanding of sustainability was benefiting them at interviews and adding value to their employers. While it cannot be proved that increased self-awareness and sustainability literacy have a direct effect on graduate prospects (as measured by the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey), NBS has seen the percentage of students in graduate level employment and/or study increase from 71 to 89.6 per cent over the past five years.

Linking sustainability to employability, and embedding these in the curriculum, should benefit any institution, its students, employers and society, and can be replicated anywhere in the world.

Much of the current literature on integrating sustainability into HEIs is focussed on why HEIs should embrace sustainable development (SD) and what is still missing or hindering work and the integration of efforts. There is much less exploration of how SD has been interpreted at the individual HEI level and action taken as a result. This case study reflects on important elements of the journey Nottingham Trent University (NTU) in the UK has taken to integrate sustainability, focussing on key decisions and activity in 2009/10. In highlighting this, the authors seek to empower those looking to support and/or lead the embedding of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), separately or as part of an integrated effort, in their own institution. Today in 2019, NTU is a global leader in integrating ESD as part of a wider SD agenda. The work which this paper presents, to understand and establish a baseline of key elements of NTU's existing ESD activity and systems, was an important turning point. Activities undertaken to review and assess “where are we now?”, primarily through an institution-wide survey in 2009/10, led to important insights and supported dialogue, as well as the connection and underpinning of core administrative elements of the NTU SD framework and systems. Further recommendations are given in the final section of this paper on other drivers that can help to embed ESD within an HEI.

This paper reviews the challenging trends in the tourism sector of the UAE brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. In so doing, it highlights a radical shift in the consumption of travel products and the related marketing strategies that tourism enterprises could adopt.

The study aims to discern the ramifications of the Covid-19 pandemic for the tourism sector of the UAE by conducting a thematic review of the contextual literature. It highlights how tourism businesses can employ transformative strategies to revive the sector.

The outcomes reveal that tourism businesses are finding it difficult to respond to the needs of customers in settings where physical distance is a reality. Given this, the study reveals the importance of digital technology in building a relationship between the supplier and the customer. Businesses can leverage virtual reality to provide enriching experiences to prospective customers and in so doing, influence their tourism product choices. Further, there is a need to co-create values wherein the final tourism product is beneficial to both the supplier in terms of profit margin and within the scope of the customer's willingness to pay.

This review highlights that there are both demand and supply-side shocks in delivering tourism products in the post Covid-19 era. It also considers the key socio-economic factors that need to be accounted for when designing tourism products.