Business students represent an incredible untapped resource to bring about real change. We often hear accusations that management education is training future leaders to be the exact opposite of what we need to build a more sustainable society. This is not necessarily the case.
The challenge is that the majority of business students although increasingly aware of sustainability issues in general, are not aware of how sustainability will affect their future jobs and businesses. At the same time, while business schools are keen to bring sustainability and responsible leadership into the curriculum, they are not always sure how to do so.
So how do we mainstream sustainability into business education in a way that is meaningful and effective? How do we develop the next generation of globally responsible leaders?
The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) was launched as an initiative of the United Nations Global Compact in 2007 and aims to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and though leadership globally. The set of Six Principles have been adopted by over 400 academic institutions globally. A few weeks ago I had the chance to meet up with the team at the PRME Secretariat in New York. We discussed the challenges that educational institutions face when putting the Principles into practice. We discussed how there are, on one hand, many universities around the world testing out some really interesting and innovative ideas that others could learn from and, on the other hand, many others that are interested in these issues but are not sure where to start. We wanted to create an interactive space to gather, share, and discuss these issues, and PRiMEtime was born.
PRiMEtime brings together and shares best practices on how to mainstream sustainability and responsible leadership into management education globally. The blog will serve as a platform to share and discuss inspirational activities that promote the development of responsible leaders. The blog will feature examples from around the world and will include both success stories and lessons learned. Posts will cover a wide variety of activities, ranging from efforts to embed sustainability and responsible leadership into curricula, student led initiatives, and the outcomes of partnerships with business, NGOs and other schools.
PRiMEtime will also highlight the hidden “i” in PRME, by:
- Representing our INTERNATIONAL network through a growing collection of examples from across the globe,
- Exploring INNOVATIVE ideas that are being tested in management education,
- Taking an INTERDISCIPLINARY approach by both looking across the business school environment and learning from other industries and disciplines,
- Featuring INDIVIDUAL change makers who have transformed their institutions from within
- Focusing on IMPLEMENTATION through practical examples, from lessons learned through “failure” to inspirational examples, and
- INSPIRING business schools to get more involved in mainstreaming responsible management education.
There are several ways to get involved:
- Follow the blog by subscribing to the RSS feed or have it sent directly to your email box by subscribing,
- Take part in the discussions by contributing to the comments section at the end of each blog entry,
- Suggest examples from your institution by emailing us,
- Share your thoughts on what kinds of examples you would like to see moving forward.
We hope you enjoy the blog and look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Giselle Weybrecht
PRiMEtime 