Case Study: University of Galway Business School

How Accelerating Action supported a university to communicate 10 x more sustainable impact in a fifth of the time.

Background

As a 2023 SDG Champion, the University of Galway needed a quick, efficient and accurate way to communicate the sustainable development goals (SDG) impact of their J.E. Cairnes School of Business & Economics courses. To achieve this, they turned to Accelerating Action.

Solution

The university's 80 staff collaborated with Accelerating Action to implement a comprehensive baseline assessment across all business school courses. Utilising Accelerating Action's innovative "one assessment, many results" methodology, the university conducted a single, all-encompassing SDG sustainability assessment for its diverse range of courses and modules.

Furthermore integrating Accelerating Action's impact plug-in (jecairnessdgshowcase.org), the University of Galway effectively showcased their school's SDG impacts to prospective students, existing staff, and potential funders.

Accelerating Action assessments, which took an average of just 20 minutes each, saved the University of Galway over three months' worth of staff time. This efficiency allowed the university to focus more on delivering impactful education rather than merely reporting on it.

"Accelerating Action provided us with exactly the functionality we needed. We were were happy with the integrity of the assessment process, it offered us a step by step process that helped to refine the users understanding of which SDGs they were integrating in their work. It offered consistency and a way to gently educate in a not overly time consuming way. The output of the assessment process is simple and clear and has uses for our participants beyond this current project."

-Dr. Ann O'Brien, Researcher at the SDG Mapping Project, the University of Galway

Results

The comprehensive results were substantial:

• Unified Impact Communication: The business school presented its collective SDG impact in a single visual "impact wheel," which could be subdivided into specific departments: economics, marketing, management, accounting & finance, and business information.

• Enhanced Discoverability: Assessing at the SDG target level enabled detailed insights into the impact of each course and tutor’s research, promoting interdepartmental collaboration and breaking down academic silos.

• Alignment with Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME): Demonstrating Accelerating Action's "and not or" assessment philosphy the comprehensive SDG sustainability assessment also supported the business school's existing PRME commitments.In fact Accelerating Action's target level assessment uses what PRME considers the most ‘advanced mapping methodology’ it expects higher education institutions to adopt.

Impact

By adopting Accelerating Action, the University of Galway was able to quickly, efficiently and accurately communicate their SDG impacts, not only enhanced the school's reputation today but also supports in attracting the sustainability-conscious students and staff of tomorrow.