Adam Smith Business School has expanded its executive education portfolio with programmes focused on artificial intelligence, neuroinclusive leadership, workplace health and women’s leadership after consulting employers across Scotland about skills and development priorities.
The University of Glasgow school has structured the portfolio around four flagship areas, alongside bespoke programmes that can be developed with individual organisations.
AI for Productivity and Growth is aimed at leaders seeking practical ways to use artificial intelligence in decision-making, productivity and organisational growth. Adaptive Leadership: EQ and Neuroinclusivity focuses on emotional intelligence, psychological safety and adapting leadership approaches to different employees and team dynamics.
Menopause Ready: Lead. Protect. Perform. addresses menopause support through an occupational health, safety and workplace-management lens, while the LeadHERship Retreat provides an immersive programme focused on confidence, resilience, strategic thinking and peer connection for women.
The school says the portfolio was developed after engagement with companies, charities, public-sector bodies and other organisations about skills gaps and barriers to executive development.
Professor Anthony Devine, deputy head of Adam Smith Business School, said: “We are delighted to be able to launch this innovative Executive Education portfolio to our partners and clients. These programmes have been designed to bring cutting-edge research into practical settings, helping businesses adapt and learn in ever changing times.”
A tiered pricing model is intended to widen access beyond larger employers. Fees start at £295 for charities, NGOs and non-profit organisations, with discounted pricing for SMEs and University of Glasgow alumni alongside corporate rates.
Organisations seeking more tailored development can work with academics on programmes designed around particular strategic or workforce requirements. The model combines research-led teaching with specific organisational challenges rather than applying the same syllabus across different employers.
The launch comes as learning and development budgets face tighter scrutiny. Scottish business confidence has weakened amid inflation, labour costs and subdued investment, increasing pressure on discretionary spending at the same time as employers face substantial skills and technology change.
That tension is influencing the executive education market. Traditional long residential programmes continue to play a role, but organisations increasingly want shorter interventions linked to identifiable operating challenges, particularly where senior employees cannot spend extended periods away from their roles.
Artificial intelligence is accelerating demand for that type of learning because leadership teams are making decisions about a technology developing faster than many formal training cycles. Understanding generative AI is only part of the requirement; organisations also have to determine where it should be deployed, how investment should be prioritised, what governance is necessary and how work will change.
Leadership capability is broadening at the same time. Neuroinclusion, psychological safety, employee health and workforce retention now sit more directly inside management responsibilities, particularly as organisations compete for specialist skills and seek to improve productivity without relying solely on additional headcount.
The menopause programme reflects that wider shift in workplace health. Policies and individual adjustments remain important, while occupational risk, absence, performance, retention and line-management capability increasingly form part of the same discussion.
Neuroinclusion raises similar practical questions. A corporate commitment has limited operational value if managers do not know how to structure work, communication and feedback for employees with different needs. Development programmes therefore have to reach beyond policy and influence everyday management behaviour.
The challenge for executive education providers is demonstrating that those interventions translate into organisational outcomes. Employers under cost pressure are likely to demand clearer connections between training expenditure and decision quality, staff retention, productivity or reduced operational risk.
Universities bring research capability and academic expertise to that market, although they compete with consultancies, specialist training companies, online learning platforms and technology vendors. Price, flexibility and practical relevance can be as important as institutional reputation when organisations choose development programmes.
Adam Smith Business School holds triple-crown accreditation and is using its broader links with industry, research and student talent to create a single route for organisations seeking to work with the university. Executive education sits alongside research collaboration, innovation activity and employer access to students and graduates.
That broader partnership model can be particularly relevant to smaller companies that do not maintain large internal learning teams. SMEs may need leadership or AI capability without having the scale to design specialist programmes themselves, making shared or open-enrolment formats more practical.
The tiered fee structure addresses one of the clearest barriers to participation. A starting price of £295 for charities and non-profits sits materially below many traditional executive programmes, while SME discounts widen the potential market beyond large corporate employers.
Scotland’s economic backdrop increases the pressure on every programme to demonstrate value. Companies reporting recruitment difficulty, rising labour costs and weak investment intentions have fewer resources available for development that cannot be connected to an operational or strategic priority.
Delaying capability investment carries its own cost, particularly where AI adoption, workforce change and succession planning are already affecting management decisions. The new portfolio concentrates on areas where expectations of leaders are developing rapidly, while lower-cost and tailored formats are intended to reduce some of the barriers that have traditionally limited access to executive education.
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