Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business
The PG Dip is currently under review and will not be accepting applications for 2027 entry.
Below is an overview of the PG Dip as offered for 2026 entry. Updated programme information will be available here once the programme review is complete. While the PG Dip is under review alumni of CISL’s Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business are still able to progress their studies via the MSt Sustainability Leadership continuous route.
About the Postgraduate Diploma
The Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business is part of CISL’s mission to empower individuals and organisations to take leadership to tackle critical global challenges.
More specifically, it aims to provide an academically grounded, highly participatory and applied forum for learning around topical social and environmental, to help professionals develop:
- a strong foundation in wider global social, environmental and economic trends, and the strategic business case for change;
- strategies and suggestions for change based on the latest theoretical and practical developments shaping sustainable practices;
- the knowledge, skills, and confidence to critically engage with a range of strategies and tools for practical action; and
- an ongoing capacity to work with others to co-create solutions to complex problems and to contribute to a wider community of learning and practice.
Curriculum
This course is designed around six interconnected learning outcomes:
- The changing global context, the case for a radical shift from current systems and the role of business
- A sustainable future, and the potential synergies and tensions in achieving it
- Potential levers, leverage points and pathways to achieve change both within and beyond organisations to achieve sustainability
- Personal and collective leadership and effective action as an agent of change
- Sustainability insights, knowledge and research for specific contexts
- Communication and engagement, individually and collaboratively, to advance the sustainability agenda
Modules are delivered through a combination of residential workshop teaching and an online learning programme.
Programme structure
The Postgraduate Diploma (PG Dip) comprises two stages:
PG Dip Stage 1: the 9 month Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business.
PG Dip Stage 2: following successful completion of the Postgraduate Certificate, students move to the 2 year PG Dip Stage 2.
The full PG Diploma takes 3 years to complete if students progress immediately from Stage 1 to Stage 2, but students can elect to take a break between the stages. Each stage of the PG Diploma must be applied for separately and progression is not guaranteed. Students can apply for Stage 2 while completing their Stage 1 studies if they wish to progress immediately.
The individual assignments set throughout gave me the opportunity to reflect on the topics that we had learnt and how these could be applied to the real world.
Galina Parmenter
Project Manager, Global Sustainability, C&A
Assignments
Students are required to complete five assessed assignments for the Postgraduate Diploma in Sustainable Business, three in Stage 1 and two in Stage 2. These are designed to ensure the integration of the student’s learning with their workplace context and the development of academic writing and critical thinking skills. Supervisors are allocated to support the assignments, with virtual supervisor inputs taking place at intervals relevant to the assignments.
Stage 1 assignments are the Analysis Paper, the Strategic Action Plan and the Group Project. Stage 2 assignments are the Analytical Case Study and the Literature Review. See the assignments page for more details.
Accreditation and progression options
Successful completion of the course results in a Postgraduate Diploma awarded by the University of Cambridge. This carries 120 CATS points at Level M and is equivalent to two-thirds of a Master's degree.
Following successful completion of the PG Dip, alumni can apply to continue to a full Master's via our Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership flexible route (Stage 3). This third stage takes an additional 2 years of part-time study and is also currently under review, so please check with the programme team for the updated details for this option might be for the 2028 intake onwards. Details of this route are available here.