This past year was a big year for the Principles for Responsible Management. As a network of networks we celebrated our 10th anniversary including an opportunity to come together and look both back and forwards at the PRME Global Forum in July 2017 in New York City. This year was also the second year that the Sustainable Development Goals have been in effect, including a significant increase in the impact that management education is having in the realisation of these Goals. Many of this past year’s PRiMEtime posts have highlighted this collective impact.
This is the 6th year that I write PRiMEtime. I started this blog in 2011 in collaboration with the PRME Secretariat as a way of showcasing all of the exciting initiatives that Signatories were taking part in. Not only has this shown schools and the business community what is possible but in many instances this has also helped raise awareness of these initiatives within the schools and helped the individuals involved receive more support internally. Thank you to all of the individuals who are not only driving these initiatives but who took the time to share their stories here. PRiMEtime is now a database of good practices from around the world with over 1000 examples of how management education is embedding sustainability the Principles into their work.
This year 60 new articles were posted featuring over 100 examples from more 90 different Signatories in 27 countries. We have also introduced a number of Special Feature Months providing a more in-depth look at how schools are approaching a specific SDG. In this 2-part year-end post we review the examples featured this year, (roughly) organised around the SDGs. Simply click on the links to read the full article.
I look forward to another year of featuring your initiatives. Please feel free to email me your suggestions as well as any requests for 2018.
Many signatories provide opportunities for their students to work on projects to better their local communities. One example featured was the I’m the Change Initiative from the Institute of Management Technology in India which is a mandatory programme for all students. Many Signatories organise awareness raising events and conferences during the school year focused on PRME and sustainability. At the University of Greenwich Business School their full day conference focused on “Shaping Business Opportunities in a World of Uncertainty” not just organised by students but is organised as part of the requirements for one of their courses.
Students have always been, and will continue to be an important driver of PRME and sustainability on campus. At FEA-RP/USP in Brazil the Sustainable Student Organisation Awards promote and recognise projects that benefit the school and the local community. Students at Universidad EAFIT in Colombia are exploring solutions to local SDG challenges through a range of projects on campus. Copenhagen Business School is looking at a range of ways to really embed sustainability into their campus with the support of a new Sustainable Infrastructure Taskforce.
On PRiMEtime we regularly post blogs summarizing the lists of MOOCs on sustainability topics offered by Signatories. Many of these MOOCs are either available on an on-going basis or have regular start dates so even past posts provide a good resources. If you are planning a MOOC for 2018 please email so this can be included in the next post in January. For 2017 this included a selection of the MOOCs available in Winter 2017 focused around economic, social and environmental issues as well as in September 2017 focused around strategy, cities, social impact, funding and ethics. An update of a very popular post on Primetime from several years ago focused on how to use online games to engage in sustainability was also shared. It provides links to a number of online games that can be used in the classroom organised by SDG.
A post in March also looked at What Students Think About Responsible Management Education outlining a number of insights pulled from a recent survey on students views on sustainability in business education. Another post that came out just before the PRME Global Forum looked at why Management’s Education’s Role in the SDGs isn’t limited to providing quality education and how there are many different ways that Schools can and should engage.
Several posts included projects that tackle SDG 5 around Gender Equality but two focused in on the topic. Students at Slippery Rock University in the United States were the catalyst to creating a new Centre on campus that focuses on development female business leaders. Through their Diversity Institute, Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Canada has been focused on ensuring that management education is accessible and every student is empowered to achieve his or her full potential.
Once again this year faculty from Signatory schools shared examples of companies within their countries that are considered sustainability leaders, companies engaged in a range of activities across all SDGs. Featured sustainable business examples for 2017 included:
Australia: Kindling, Crepes for Change, eWater Systems
Brazil: Votorantim Cimentos, CPFL
Canada: Net Zero Waste, EcoDairy, Nature’s Path Foods, Magnet, Sharbucks Canada, Scadding Court Community Centre, Telus, Stantec, Nova Scotia designer Tabitha Osler
Colombia: EPM, Grupo Sura, ISA
India: Jayaashree Industries, Goonj
Nigeria: Wecyclers, Adcem Healthcare, Doreo Partner’s Babban Gona
Poland: Izodom 2000, Solaris Bus & Coach, Seedia
South Africa: Zoona, AllLife Insurance, GreenCape
Sweden: Filippa K, Max Hamburgers, Axel Johnson AB
UK: Triodas Bank, Bordeaux Quay, Resource Futures, Low Carbon SW, Eunomia
The month of October was a Special Feature month focused on Impact Investing and how schools are engaging in this topic in particular within the Finance curriculum. A range of resources on Impact Investing were presented as well as a summary of ten ways schools are bringing Impact Investing to campus featuring specific examples from ten different signatories including Tsinghua University in China and ESADE Business School in Spain to name but two. Smith School of Business in Canada shared their experiences training the next generation of impact investing professionals through their Social Finance Academy. Sauder School of Business presented their approach to promoting impact investing not just within the business school but externally as well. Impact Investing Competitions organised by different business schools around the world including a more in-depth feature on not just the competition at IESE but also their newly launched student managed impact investment fund. We finished off the month with a special look at the University of Cape Town’s work on promoting impact investing in the African Context and training a new generation of leaders in South Africa and beyond.
PRiMEtime 