Corporate responsibility report calls for curriculum changes
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Global responsibility and sustainable business are the latest catchphrases in management education.
The past week has seen two reports published that investigate how business schools educate future business leaders.
The first, Beyond Grey Pinstripes, has been published by the World Resources Institute and the Aspen Institute, who have been pioneers in promoting sustainable development and social responsibility.
It reports positive news: of the 91 business schools surveyed in six continents, 54 per cent require a course in ethics, corporate social responsibility, sustainability or business and society.
This is up from 45 per cent in 2003 and 34 per cent in 2001.
The report ranks the top 30 business schools in the world, of which 18 are in the US.
In the number one slot is Stanford, followed by Esade in Spain and the Schulich School at York University in Canada.
In Europe the European Federation of Management Development (EFMD) has launched its globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, with support from the United Nations Global Compact. It is calling for business schools to put in place substantial changes to their curriculums.
In its report “Globally Responsible Leadership – A Call for Engagement,” the EFMD argues that global responsibility should be required in order for schools to be accredited.
US and European schools sign China deals
Alliances with Chinese business schools are proving popular recently for US and European Universities, with Harvard, Columbia, Duke and Iese all signing deals this month.
■Harvard and Iese Business Schools have joined forces with Ceibs in Shanghai to design and teach a Global CEO programme. The programme will begin in February 2006 and is intended for Chinese chief executives.
Half the teaching will take place in Shanghai and the rest will be split between Boston and Barcelona.
■Fudan University School of Management in Shanghai and New York-based Columbia Business School have announced a partnership that will allow Chinese financial executives to study global financial markets with Columbia faculty.
Fifty participants from China’s banking, investment, insurance, regulatory and government sectors will study at the school next summer as part of the executive training programme, as well as visiting financial institutions in New York.
The initiative between the two institutions will serve as the basis for future links between the two in the areas of research, business degrees and executive education.
■The Fuqua school of business at Duke University has established an exchange programme with Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing. For the next three academic years up to three students from Tsinghua’s MBA programme will take courses at Fuqua for one semester with a similar number of Fuqua students taking MBA courses in Beijing. Students will be able to enrol in any electives offered by either host for which they are qualified.
www.cibs.tamu.edu/mba-ms/tsinghua.htm
Chicago wins award for black education
The University of Chicago graduate school of business has been named the outstanding educational institution of 2005 by the National Black MBA Association. The award recognises Chicago’s efforts at encouraging African Americans to study business. Chicago launched its first scholarship programme for minorities in 1964.
Trinity and IIM to create new business school
Trinity College Dublin and the Irish Institute of Management are to merge their graduate management programmes into a new business school, which bears the working title of the Graduate School of Management. The final name will be announced shortly, but is expected to include the Trinity brand.
Into the entity will go the Trinity MBA programme, a suite of MSc in managment programmes and a host of executive short programmes, including a consortium advanced management programme. Undergraduate programmes will not be included.
The school will have a joint faculty of 50 and will keep both existing campuses. MBA students will continue to be taught on the Trinity University campus.
The school is planning to launch a consortium EMBA for six companies in 2006 and is revamping many of its executive programmes.
Babson and Esade join forces on programmes
Babson College in the US and Esade in Spain have joined forces to co-operate on programmes, faculty excahnges and research projects. They two will work on undergraduate, graduate and executive programmes.
In particular they will instigate student exchanges and set up joint student consulting projects, and will work together on developing executive education courses.
Both are noted for a focus on entrepreneurship and small and family businesses.
Wharton moves to help non-profit groups
A project aimed at placing MBA students on the boards of directors of non-profit organisations is up and running at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Wharton has joined forces with the Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University, also in Pennsylvania, to place selected students with these organisations in the Philadelphia area.
Students serve as board members for one academic year and work on initiatives in areas such as accounting, finance or marketing.
This year students will sit on the boards of, among others, the Children’s Aid Society of Pennsylvania, the Metropolitan Career Center and the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.
Richard Powers moves up at Rotman school
An expert in corporate governance is to become assistant dean and executive director of MBA programmes at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
Richard Powers, currently a senior lecturer on the school’s MBA and EMBA programmes, will oversee student recruitment, administration and career services for the school’s full-time, part-time and combined MBA programmes.
Richard Mosenthal leaves Tuck for State in NY
Richard Mosenthal has quit the Tuck school of Business at Dartmouth College to become director of executive education at New York’s Levin Graduate Institute the newly-formed unit of the State University of New York.
Mr Mosenthal spent the past 10 years at Tuck where he was director of strategic business development. He school he developed Tuck’s custom and consortium executive education models and helped launch the Smith College-Tuck global leadership programme for women, a consortium programme designed for high-potential female executives with global responsibilities.
He says he was attracted to Levin by its focus on creating world class global executive education programmes. “Organisations understand that their managers must develop cross-cultural knowledge and skills to navigatge in an accelerating global environment – developing such talent is a huge strategic issue for them.”
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