The move is part of the housebuilder’s commitment to being part of the conversation that influences the changes the industry should consider to address issues such as how it will attract new talent and how it will adapt to handle the skills and material shortages.

A team from Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, led by technical director Stephen Andrew has set out both the current and the future challenges that face the housebuilding industry, and over 500 second year business students have been challenged to provide their opinions on how the business can play its role in tackling these industry challenges. This project is a key part of the student’s graded course work that forms part of their overall study within MDP.

This is a unique way of engaging with a future workforce who are also likely to be customers or home owners as Stephen Andrew explained: “Our approach with Strathclyde Business School aims to provide our business with some fresh insight into the key challenges our industry faces, but we’re also hoping that our approach will generate interest in the potential of the career opportunities that exist within our business and the wider housebuilding industry.”

The industry case studies completed by the students will be marked by lecturers at Strathclyde Business School and reviewed by the team at Taylor Wimpey West Scotland.

Some of the best submissions will have a chance to pitch their ideas in a live boardroom session with the Taylor Wimpey West Scotland senior board team.

Exceptional ideas may even be passed onto the Taylor Wimpey UK board for consideration as Stephen added: “We’ve set the students some tough questions that mirror some of the issues that our business and wider industry faces. We’ve given them free reign to tap into their creativity to generate fresh ideas that might give us an innovative edge in the industry.

“And if we’re presented with strong ideas that we believe have some mileage we will consider them at UK level within our business. This is a great way for us to be part of the conversation that delivers the answers that we’re all seeking to future-proof our industry.”

The Management Development Programme is a core element of the undergraduate degree programme in the Strathclyde Business School. The programme is three years in length and provides students with a learning environment through which they develop business and commercial awareness alongside graduate employability skills.

The programme adopts a blended learning approach and is based on social constructivist and experiential learning principles. Students are exposed to the reality of business through industry engagement as well as development of knowledge and understanding through dialogue.

The MPD runs in each of the first three years of the BA degree. The entire class is driven by real business problems and is delivered by a team of lecturers from different departments who are supported by invited practitioners. The approach to learning is active problem-based, with students working in project teams.

MDP director Dr Nikos Danias welcomed the participation of Taylor Wimpey West Scotland to the programme, and said: “It is with great joy that we welcomed Taylor Wimpey to our campus for the second time. MDP is our flagship undergraduate programme and it provides students with many opportunities to test their skills and knowledge in real life scenarios and situations.

“Taylor Wimpey has provided us with a very interesting case study which challenged our students to think outside the box and reflect on the knowledge that they acquire during their studies. Learning from the expertise of the Taylor Wimpey staff contributes to interactive and constructive sessions from which the students benefit greatly, both in terms of increasing their business awareness and enhancing their analytical thinking but also in terms of reflecting on their employability, as they put themselves in the shoes of Taylor Wimpey executives.”