Project Overview:

In her role as Director of Strathclyde Business School’s flagship Management Development Programme (MDP), Dr Julie McFarlane led a strategic overhaul of a core three-year curriculum delivered to over 1,800 undergraduate students. The redesigned programme was launched during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—a moment that demanded resilience, creativity, and agility. The new MDP was built around real-world relevance, student voice, and blended delivery, aligning fully with the University of Strathclyde’s strategic commitment to inclusive, future-facing education. The result was a dynamic, student-led learning journey integrating academic rigour with professional development, enterprise, and global citizenship.

The Challenge:
While the MDP had long been a cornerstone of the undergraduate experience, it required transformation to remain fit for purpose. Julie faced three core challenges:

1. Rapidly changing business and educational environments, exacerbated by COVID-19, Brexit, and globalisation;

2. Scaling innovation across a multi-year programme involving nearly 2,000 students;

3. Embedding relevance by integrating theory with practice, reflection, and professional competencies.

There was also an institutional appetite to move away from passive, standardised teaching models and towards student-centred, experiential education. Julie was tasked with reimagining the MDP to meet this brief under pandemic constraints.

The Solution:
Working collaboratively with tutors, administrators, and students, Julie led the full redesign of MDP Years 1–3:

• MDP1: Innovation, Commercialisation & Entrepreneurship (ICE)
  Delivered online and on-campus during the pandemic, this first-year pathway introduced design thinking, idea generation, stakeholder mapping, and rapid prototyping—providing students with entrepreneurial mindsets from the outset.

• MDP2: Projects, Process & Professionalism (PPP)
  Focused on critical thinking, team-based consultancy projects, and personal effectiveness—bridging academic theory and applied business contexts.

• MDP3: World of Work (WOW)
  A work-based learning model featuring internships, reflective journals, and industry placements with partners such as Barclays, Morgan Stanley, Hearts Football Club, and Scottish SMEs.

Innovations included:

• Assessment choice and flexibility, including video pitches, case simulations, and critical essays;

• Co-design with students, ensuring ownership and buy-in;

• Guest lectures from industry and the third sector, enhancing engagement and relevance;

• Blended learning environments leveraging asynchronous content and live virtual tutorials.

The Impact:
Despite launching mid-pandemic, the reimagined MDP demonstrated exceptional results:

1. Student Ownership and Engagement
   Learners were more deeply invested in their development, with evaluations noting increased confidence, creativity, and clarity.

2. Graduate Employability
   Students graduated with tangible workplace skills—from stakeholder mapping and ethical decision-making to value creation and pitching.

3. Scalable Educational Innovation
   The model has been used to inform similar curriculum reforms at Strathclyde and beyond, showcasing best practice in digital and inclusive learning design.

4. Enduring Legacy
   Julie’s redesign created a flexible framework that has remained relevant and impactful in the post-pandemic context, demonstrating the value of co-created, practice-based learning at scale.

Conclusion:
The MDP transformation at Strathclyde Business School is a powerful example of what’s possible when curriculum innovation meets bold leadership. Launched in one of the most turbulent years for education globally, the programme empowered students to lead, reflect, and act with purpose—preparing them to thrive in complex and uncertain futures. Julie McFarlane’s work on the MDP remains a benchmark in enterprise education and large-scale pedagogical change.