Responsible and Ethical Business Practice

Program Overview

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Responsible and Ethical Business Practice

Overview

Develop your awareness of responsible and ethical business practice and its potential to add value to your organisation.

Summary

This aim of this short course is to provide the skills and capabilities required to demonstrate an awareness of effective operational management in implementing sustainable change and delivering sustainable outcomes.

It will focus on developing practical skills to implement various concepts, methods and theories within operational and marketing management.

About this course

About

This short course will develop understanding of the principles and frameworks that constitute responsible business practice, such as sustainable development, triple bottom line reporting, corporate responsibility and ethical business practices. These reflect key business challenges of our time.

Therefore, the course will also develop the ability to evaluate business performance in light of these principles. Furthermore, it will give students the skills needed to operate in current fast paced world of business that is facing serious societal and environmental issues.

There are many social and environmental challenges facing the world today and it is important that those working in organisations (private, public and third sector) understand the impact of business practices on society and how business needs to adapt to the challenges ahead.

This course explores the ethical, political, social and environmental concerns which affect businesses, including the need for greater accountability to stakeholders, and it will help students develop the skills required to navigate this complex and changing environment.

Linked programmes

• BSc (Hons) Leading on Customer Operations
• BSc (Hons) Management Practice

Assessment

• Written Assignment (Coursework) [100%]
  • Sustainable Consultancy Report
  • Equivalent of 4,000 words (Including Appendices)

The assignment you will develop an individual case study that draws upon the various elements of theory from the module. The case study context should be an organisation of the student's choice; that may be an organisation/Industry that the student is employed in or wishes to work in the future.

Critically consider the position of your organisation/Industry in relation to sustainable and responsible business practice, in order to do this, students will need to;

(1) critically evaluate and justify the need for responsible business,

(2) explain the logic and underpinning theory associated with ethical decision making (normative, behavioural and management ethics), including the organisations approach to ethics and sustainability and finally,

(3) explain how the various stakeholders are engaged with and impacted by this position.

Attendance

This course requires on-campus attendance, at our Belfast campus, on two individual dates, during Semester 2, in 2025.

The course runs on the dates below -

• Wednesday 25 June 2025, 09:00am - 5:00pm
• Thursday 26 June 2025, 09:00am - 5:00pm

Please note, dates and timetabling may be subject to change.

Entry requirements

You do not have to hold a degree to join this course – you’re welcome to apply if you have relevant professional experience.

Typically for undergraduate courses (level 4, 5 and 6), applicants should have GCSE English and Maths at C or equivalent. If you do not have these qualifications, other qualifications and work experience will be considered.

Each application for this short course will be judged on its merits and candidates are encouraged to complete the application form detailing their work experience and qualifications.

English Language Requirements

Applicants whose first language is not English must meet the minimum English entrance requirements of the University and will need to provide recent evidence of this (certified within the last two years).

Most of our courses require a minimum English level of IELTS 6.0 or equivalent, with no band score under 5.5. Trinity ISE: Pass at level III also meets this requirement.

Start dates

• 25 June 2025

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Fees and funding

Prices

• Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and EU Settlements Status Fees: £791.60
• England, Scotland, Wales and the Islands Fees: £1,541.60
• International Fees: £Not Applicable

Fees information

Payment of Fees and Deposits

Information about how to pay for a course including different payment options is available.

Fees and Funding

Information and advice about course fees and a guide to budgeting for your living costs, as well as sources for financial assistance including hardship funding, scholarships, prizes and awards, is available.

Academic profile

The University employs over 1,000 suitably qualified and experienced academic staff - 60% have PhDs in their subject field and many have professional body recognition.

Courses are taught by staff who are Professors (19%), Readers, Senior Lecturers (22%) or Lecturers (57%).

We require most academic staff to be qualified to teach in higher education: 82% hold either Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education Practice or higher. Most academic and learning support staff (85%) are recognised as fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) by Advance HE - the university sector professional body for teaching and learning. Many academic and technical staff hold other professional body designations related to their subject or scholarly practice.

The profiles of many academic staff can be found on the University’s departmental websites and give a detailed insight into the range of staffing and expertise. The precise staffing for a course will depend on the department(s) involved and the availability and management of staff. This is subject to change annually and is confirmed in the timetable issued at the start of the course.

Occasionally, teaching may be supplemented by suitably qualified part-time staff (usually qualified researchers) and specialist guest lecturers. In these cases, all staff are inducted, mostly through our staff development programme ‘First Steps to Teaching’. In some cases, usually for provision in one of our out-centres, Recognised University Teachers are involved, supported by the University in suitable professional development for teaching.

Sustainability at Ulster

Ulster continues to develop and support sustainability initiatives with our staff, students, and external partners across various aspects of teaching, research, professional services operations, and governance.

At Ulster every person, course, research project, and professional service area on every campus either does or can contribute in some way towards the global sustainability and climate change agenda.

We are guided by both our University Strategy People, Place and Partnerships : Delivering Sustainable Futures for All and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Our work in this area is already being recognised globally. Most recently by the 2024 Times Higher Education Impact rating where we were recognised as Joint 5th Globally for Outreach Activities and Joint Top 20 Globally for Sustainable Development Goal 17: Partnership for the Goals.

Visit our Sustainability at Ulster destination to learn more about how the University strategy and the activities of Ulster University support each of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ulster University Business School - Sustainability in Focus

Learning and Teaching

We support and develop ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ within the Faculty’s Learning & teaching portfolio. We do so by providing bespoke staff training on ESD and curating an ESD Resources Hub.

All UUBS undergraduate and post-graduate course are mapped against the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and students are actively involved in learning for sustainable development.

We seek to enhance the student experience by encouraging our students to become actively involved in sustainability initiatives, such as Carbon Literacy Training, the Big Spring Clean and collaborating with the Northern Ireland Resource Network.

Research and Knowledge Exchange

We develop, support and disseminate sustainability-themed research within the Faculty and beyond. Our annual sustainability research networking event creates new research strands within the Faculty’s research portfolio.

We actively support out PhD community to embed sustainability in their research and provide training on methods and critical thinking on sustainability.

We partner with other institutions, such as Queen’s University Belfast and Atlantic Technological University to broaden our sustainability research and create interdisciplinary research links.

Communications and Engagement

UUBS has a dedicated Sustainability Committee, tasked with developing dedicated internal and external communications and engagement activities promoting the sustainability work of the Faculty.

We host an annual Sustainability Business Breakfast, attend and speak at notable sustainability events, such as the SustainExchange Summit, the Belfast Re[Act] Festival and the NI Science Festival.

Our sustainability work is monitored on our bespoke UUBS SDG Dashboard on our dedicated UUBS sustainability webpages. Our sustainability performance team oversees the Faculty’s Academy Restaurant’s Green Academy programme and associated eco-certifications Green Key and Green Tourism Gold Award.