Educating and developing globally responsible leaders

Student help co-create an MBA for the planet

A growing number of companies are increasing their commitment to sustainability – particularly those working with commodities, chemicals, consumer products, retailing and industrial goods and machinery. A university in Exeter, United Kingdom, has incorporated sustainability studies in its MBA programme – providing a transformative, reflective, and issue-based learning curriculum. Working closely with a well-known environmental [...]

Pedagogy of passion for sustainability

Current practices in teaching sustainable management are replete with scientific facts, analytical tools, optimization models, and management techniques. A Professor at a Canadian business school argues that we need to focus on transformative learning, reflective practice and fieldwork, and issue-centred learning when teaching sustainability – specifically by helping students develop a passion to tackle the [...]

Strengthening leadership in a family business

In the past more businesses were managed according to the long-term interests of the owners and their families. One peer-based learning organisation in the UK employs transformative learning techniques to help a large family business retain its core values of independence, creativity, innovation and quality, sustainability, globally responsible practice and financial conservatism. Institutions: Oasis: School of [...]

A curriculum that supports student self-development

While many business and management schools consider the study of sustainable development as a specialist subject, a business school based in France places the field at the heart of its MSc Management course. Inspired by the six PRME principles, the school’s transformative and issue-centered learning approach encourages students to pursue their own goals, following a Pro-Act pedagogy [...]

Seeking creative solutions to complex problems

A US-based university refocuses its efforts on ethics, social responsibility, service and sustainability as part of its issue-centered learning courses. One of their programs strongly encourages students to draw on knowledge and experience from all backgrounds when addressing complex issues, as well as promoting a transdisciplinary approach amongst faculty members and postgraduate students. Institution: Bentley University Country: [...]

Tackling complexity in large-scale problems

Solving complex, large-scale problems requires creativity and innovation; strategic and entrepreneurial thinking; and enlightened management and organizational practices. Three colleges in the US are collaborating to provide an issue-based learning sustainability certificate program that empowers our future leaders to make use of the skills, tools, and concepts from the liberal arts, business, and engineering in order to [...]

Resetting managerial mindsets

An international management masters program utilises a unique approach structured around five managerial mindsets (reflective, analytical, worldly, collaborative, action). The program breaks away from the traditional lecture format where the professor is considered the expert in the room, focusing instead on sessions that are designed to involve all participants, enabling them to transfer knowledge with [...]

Changing attitudes with the MBA for a Better Planet

A University in Canada plans to launch an MBA for a Better Planet. Students will combine a transformative classroom and online learning curriculum with experiential and field-based learning to better understand food systems and supply chains, barriers to a safe and secure food supply, and the role of business in development. The program aims to [...]

Applying whole person learning to real-world problems

A business school in Hong Kong sets an example to other institutions with its strong emphasis on ethics, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance to its education and research agenda, which form a core aspect of its transformative learning philosophy. The school conducts wide-ranging community based work in promoting corporate social responsibility by encouraging its [...]