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JulAug2015

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48 BizEd JULY | AUGUST 2015 the Athenians out of their ignorance and intellectual complacency. At Bentley, the goal is to seed each academic depart- ment with gadflies who will prod their colleagues into adding discussions about ethics and responsible management to their classes. The workshop consists of facili- tated discussions among faculty from di¨erent disciplines, institutions, and geographic regions, as well as presenta- tions by faculty who already integrate responsible management into their courses. By seeing how cases, videos, exercises, simulations, and debates can be used in class, faculty discover new ways to stimulate the moral imagina- tions of their students. They also see how service-learning activities can help students view the world through the eyes of di¨erent stakeholders. But the workshop also is designed to help faculty capitalize on spontaneous teaching moments, especially when students are personally engaged in the subject at hand. For instance, workshop attendees might learn about Mary Gen- tile's "Giving Voice to Values" program, which encourages students to reflect on and discuss experiences they've had in the workplace. (See "Voicing Values, Finding Answers" on page 40 in the July/August 2008 issue of BizEd or visit www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/57462/41.) The ultimate goal of the Gadfly pro- gram is to make faculty more comfortable with responsible management concepts, analysis, and application so they can help students make rational and ethical choices. Through the program, Bentley has made sure that responsible manage- ment is incorporated into virtually every discipline in the business school. Ashridge Business School in the U.K. also has found significant ways to embed responsible and sustainable business into the curriculum. For years the school has o¨ered a variety of options in this space: a specialist MSc program on sustainability and responsibility, which originally was created with The Body Shop's Anita Roddick; an MBA program with a compulsory module on sustain- able business; and an MSc in organiza- tional change that includes a residential module on ecology at Schumacher Col- lege, an international center in the U.K. that provides courses on sustainable, social, and environmental issues. More recently, the school has intro- duced systemic changes designed to em- bed sustainability into all degree-grant- ing programs. Whenever a new program is introduced or an existing one comes up for revalidation, administrators must consider if and how to include sustainable development in its learning objectives, teaching approaches, and assessment metrics. School leaders also encourage the inclusion of responsible business content in any customized edu- cation program or consulting work. For more ways that business schools are educating leaders who will embrace sustainable practice, see "Responsibili- ty-Based Initiatives" on the facing page. PROGRESS FOR PRME The fact that so many business schools are o¨ering programs about sustain- ability shows just how much progress higher education is making in this field. Another sign of progress is that PRME itself has seen significant growth since it was founded in 2007. Recently, PRME launched a series of regional chapters designed to create networks of schools in areas such as Europe, Asia, Latin America, and North America. Not only do these chapters encourage regional interaction among schools, they also increase the visibility of PRME—which now can claim more than 570 signatory schools in 80 countries. In addition, PRME has founded the Champions group, in which participants examine and refine what leadership means within the context of responsible management education. They identify criteria for recognizing progress and lay out a roadmap for continuous improve- ment by all signatories in the PRME community. The PRME Champions group is modeled after the Global Com- pact's LEAD initiative, which gathers corporate sustainability leaders from all regions and sectors to collaborate on driving change. But an even more encouraging sign of progress—and a tangible outcome of the Rio+20 Summit—is that more business schools are analyzing their performance in terms of sustainability. In France, for example, more than one-third of higher education institutions currently use the "Green Plan," a guide for developing their own sustainable development ap- proaches; all will have to do so by 2016. Meanwhile, the Platform for Sus- tainability Performance in Education has been launched with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNESCO, PRME, and the U.N. Global Compact. It brings together organizations that have created sustainability assessment tools for higher education—including Life (used in the U.K. and Australia), STARS (the U.S.), CRUE (Spain), and USAT (South Africa). This platform provides educational institutions the means to evaluate the sustainability initiatives they have put in place. The ultimate goal of Bentley's Gadfly program is to make faculty more comfortable with responsible management concepts, so they can help students make rational and ethical choices.

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