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The Introduction of an Innovative Corporate Responsibility Programme into Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University has brought in a new vision for its Corporate Responsibility Programme (CRP) which is to have a ‘net positive impact’ on the societies it serves; this means that the educational and knowledge outputs of the university will outweigh its operational impacts. The CRP is innovative, truly consultative and transparent. It generates knowledge by coordinating activities taking place across a huge variety of stakeholders including teachers, researchers, staff, students and the community. The CRP has the potential for combining resources to solve difficult problems, and is led from the top with a high level and effective governance structure, and was launched by the vice-chancellor in May 2009. The CRP provides a link with civil society and a way to make changes for the better. The CRP website provides lots of information including papers reflecting on the effectiveness of the processes used at the university.
There is a long tradition of environmental management at Oxford Brookes, starting with the adoption of an environmental policy in 1997 and shortly after, one of the first ever travel plans. A full time environmental coordinator was appointed in 2003 and there is now a sustainability team of five people. The team has been very successful, always performing well in the People and Planet green league for UK Universities and having several recommendations for its work through awards such as the sector’s Green Gowns. However, it had long been accepted that there needed to be a more holistic approach to our sustainability impacts that the traditional approach of environmental management but it took some time to work out what that might be in practice. 2009 saw the launch of the university’s corporate responsibility programme (CRP) by the Vice Chancellor, Janet Beer. The CRP would ensure that all the work being done around the university on sustainability could be coordinated better and effort in this area better directed. The university considers that corporate responsibility and sustainability are interchangeable terms for Oxford Brookes and addresses CR in six distinct areas; community, environment, curriculum, research, workplace and marketplace. There are great examples of good practice going on at Brookes in all of these areas. The programme was broken into three distinct areas, mapping the initiatives underway, setting up a strong governance structure and building a system which would bring us nearer to our goal of proving that we have a net positive impact. The CRP already has numerous projects attributed to it including energy saving initiatives such as the replacement of older light fittings, the installation of voltage optimisers and a behaviour change programme.
To underpin one of the Brookes University values that “social responsibility demands that all aspects of our activity should be sustainable” (www.brookes.ac.uk/about/structure/mission2020) by providing a strategic approach to managing the myriad of CR activities across the university, to demonstrate through projects and initiatives that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
To measure the net positive impact that Brookes has on its communities.
To educate the leaders of tomorrow to live sustainable lives of consequence.
To raise the capacity of the sector (nationally and internationally) through effective communications and consultations.
To be transparent.
To consult widely.
The fundamental aim of our corporate responsibility programme is to have a net positive impact and one of the university’s key values states that: “Social responsibility demands that all aspects of our activity should be sustainable”. The corporate responsibility programme will underpin this value. Firstly, we needed to record consistently the CR type initiatives going on around the university. The mapping database set up to do this is the first attempt to create a coherent and comprehensive list of all the projects at the university which contribute towards its net positive impact. The initial version of the mapping database is due to go online by summer 2010 where it can be used and added to by the entire university community. It should also be a valuable resource to those outside the university seeking involvement from Brookes in specific areas. Further details of how the mapping database exercise was carried out can be found here: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/about/sustainability/corporateresponsibility/Mapping%20corporate%20responsibility.pdf Consultation and Materiality Assessment
Creating an effective corporate responsibility strategy must start with identifying key issues and setting priorities. Clearly the key issues in higher education will be different from those in other sectors: we are not a manufacturer using hazardous substances, for example, but we have a responsibility to our staff and students as well as a wider set of responsibilities to society. There was a process of wide consultation in facilitated groups which included students staff and local community groups. Advisory groups Having applied the materiality assessment and scoring process, the resulting key issues were then taken to the advisory groups. These groups are focused on each strand of corporate responsibility – Community, Environment, Research, Curriculum Workplace and Marketplace – and ensure that the University makes the most of its expertise in each area whether from academics or practitioners. A full list of the membership of these groups can be found in appendix I. A governance structure for delivering the Corporate Responsibility strategyA strong governance structure was set up to support the corporate responsibility programme. The steering group has representatives from the Governing body, the Executive Board and the Student body. The working group, Communications and Corporate Responsibility Team (CO nCR eTe) meets monthly and is made up of both corporate responsibility and communication professionals to ensure that the programme is communicated well.
The results of the consultation exercise are examined, evaluating the effectiveness of how Brookes implements its activities and each area includes the scores given by participants in the consultation process. The activities Brookes currently undertakes in these areas are described and quantitative and qualitative measures are given. The key issues derived from the consultation exercise are described in detail. Lastly, we look at some of the ways in which we will try and work towards our goal of sustainability over the next few years. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI ) produces the world’s most widely used standards for sustainability reporting. Oxford Brookes has adopted this approach so that we can compare ourselves with a wide range of other organisations and institutions around the world to inform project planning for the future. It is important to note that a very wide range of issues was identified through the comprehensive consultation we undertook at the beginning of the exercise. The consultation process was refined based on the significance of the issues to stakeholders and society, and to Oxford Brookes. This report focuses solely on this short list but the full range of issues will be on the University’s sustainability website.
Measuring the extent that the educational outputs from Brookes outweigh the operational impact – net positive impact – is truly innovative, Galvanising the higher education sector in non-competitive co-operation through well publicised learning events. (www.brookes.ac.uk/about/sustainability/corporateresponsibility) Provides CR ‘shop window’ for a highly complex organisation – a major innovation; allowing an easy combining of knowledge and resources. It also allows our stakeholders a quick and certain way of getting involved in CR activities at the university. Systematically adding value to CR projects through scrutiny by people who have a thorough knowledge of activities already taking place. A very high level governance structure.
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