Our Coaching Culture

Edinburgh is a place to learn and grow. Central to our approach is putting our students at the centre of their own learning, and providing the tools and support to help them understand who they are and who they would like to become.

The Business School has a longstanding commitment to career and professional development and, since 2014, has worked hard to create a meaningful coaching culture across all of our programmes to support this. Our coaching culture creates an environment where students are empowered to take accountability for their own development and ultimately supports them to become more successful in their professional and personal lives.


Our commitment

Our commitment to coaching is rooted in its power to unlock new ways of thinking and being. Our coaching provision facilitates self-awareness, accountability for goal setting, action and reflection to improve performance. Employers tell us that we are able to accelerate the job-readiness of our graduates and executive learners; while our students tell us their Edinburgh experience has been empowering. This is particularly important in ‘future-proofing’ employability prospects in a fast changing and competitive global job market.

We are proud of the developments that are at the heart of our coaching culture such as the Edinburgh Award for Global Employability for our MSc students, the role of Professional Development in our executive programmes and the integration of coaching and mentoring for undergraduate communities.

We have a dedicated bank of qualified and accredited coaches who provide individual coaching sessions and also a growing number of specially trained student coaching leaders who are able to provide much welcomed peer-to-peer support, particularly at undergraduate level. Their contribution is in addition to other forms of support such as 1-1 careers guidance and counselling, which are also available to our students. Together, we ensure that our students make the most of their potential throughout their time with us at Business School and as they prepare to transition into their future careers.

Quality Assurance

All coaches at the Business School agree to adhere to the elements and principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Coaches, Mentors and Supervisors. We also work with the Association for Coaching Competency Framework to guide our own development as coaching professionals. These factors are all reflected in our contracts with students.