Babson A Leader in “Responsible Management Education”
Babson College has been named one of 25 colleges worldwide that were named the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) Champions. PRME, an initiative supported by the United Nations, stresses the role of management education in dealing with sustainable development challenges, including poverty, gender inequality, and environmental issues. The PMRE Champions group officially launched at the Global Compact Leaders Summit on September 19.
The twenty-five PRME champion institutions will work together to develop activities to address challenges in sustainable management education, in collaboration with United Nations programs, agencies, and funds. During a two-year pilot phase, champion colleges will contribute to working groups, host PRME meetings, and report on their progress in implementing the six PRME principles (listed below).
The PRME was launched at the Global Compact Leaders Summit in 2013, and the initiative now has over 500 signatories from 81 countries. In the Boston area, signatories include Boston University Graduate School of Management, Boston College Carroll School of Management, and the Simmons School of Management.
The Champion and signatory colleges integrate corporate responsibility and sustainability into their management education, guided by the following six principles:
1. Purpose: Schools should develop students’ abilities to generate sustainable value for their business and society at large.
2. Values: Schools should incorporate values of global social responsibility as defined in international initiatives like the UN Global Compact into curriculum and academic activities.
3. Method: Schools will create materials, frameworks, and environments that teach responsible leadership.
4. Research: Schools will engage in research that increases human understanding about the role of corporations in creating sustainable environmental, social, and economic value.
5. Partnership: Schools will work with the managers of corporations to explore ways of producing sustainable value and to learn more about the obstacles to creating sustainable social, environmental, and economic value in the business world at large.
6. Dialogue: Schools will encourage dialogue amongst parties (students, business, government, educators, consumers, media) interested in global social responsibility and sustainability.
