Sustainability and the Business School

1. Sustainability and the Business School

2. Students and learning: sustainability not just as a means to an end...develop future graduates who can articulate and act on societal challenges • Depth and quality rather than introduction to everything • OIKOS - Student body • Trying to do the ‘right’ thing in a complex world

3. Accreditation and • PRME, Principles for Responsible Management Education, is a global call to the world of business higher education to inspire and campaign for responsible management education, research and thought leadership. • The Business School has committed to PRME, and enacting the six principles through biannual reporting of action • Accreditation and PRME - needed for AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS

4. PRME Principles • Principle 1 Purpose: We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy. • Principle 2 Values: We will incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact. • Principle 3 Method: We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership. • Principle 4 Research: We will engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our understanding about the role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value. • Principle 5 Partnership: We will interact with managers of business corporations to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges. • Principle 6 Dialogue: We will facilitate and support dialogue and debate among educators, students, business, government, consumers, media, civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability.

5. A few examples of current practice • ACC3000 undergraduate students work on real-world case studies on Accounting, Sustainability and Strategy: United Nations Millennium eco-system assessment and its broad context of relevance to business. • NNBS4051 dissertation module for Business Accounting and Finance students: current topics chosen fair trade, social enterprise, corporate social responsibility, carbon trading, gender, financing wind energy, diversity issues within the accounting profession and responses to climate change by business. • NBS8103, ACC4056 postgraduate/undergraduate moral philosophy, theory as it applies to CSR, business cases on ethics, ‘CSR strategy’, professional and business ethics, and content on how corporate governance is underpinned by ethical principles. • Role of Business in Society (NBS8513) Business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Students apply their learning in a mini-conference ‘How business can meet the needs of global society in the next 30 years with panels on: ethical labelling; sustainable fashion; and CSR improvement in working conditions in MNCs; business ethics and human rights; truth in CSR statements; lobbying; and the governance agenda; carbon trading; trans-national production issues between China & US; and steady-state economics • NBS8059 Managing Innovation in the Risk Society introduces students to multi-stakeholder approaches to managing risks to society connected with the need for greater environmental sustainability. • MKT3096 module consisted of two lectures that discuss marketing ethics, the ethical consumer, CSR and sustainability in marketing.

6. The latest PRME report is available at: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs/about/sustainability/prme.htm