The Champion’s Cycle centers on developing the next generation of leaders with the necessary knowledge and skills to attain the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Over 40 academic leaders and corporate executives, including deans from top business schools and chief executives from leading businesses, gathered for the round-table dinner to discuss gaps in today’s business and management education.
To be considered as a PRME Champion business schools need to be committed to contributing to future leadership development through responsible management education as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. Champion schools that are recognized as a thought or action leader in the responsible management community receive preferred access for their students to internship and volunteer opportunities with the PRME Secretariat and Global Compact, exclusive access to Global Compact meetings, and are recognized as PRME ambassadors.
The recognition of GIBS as a business school that leads in responsible management education adds to the school’s growing accolades as Africa’s preeminent business school. GIBS Dean Professor Nicola Kleyn, who attended the event, said: “We are delighted to be recognized as a PRME Champion. In a world of growing inequality, we believe that business schools have a vital role to play in fostering business behavior that drives inclusive growth”.
GIBS recognizes that to solve global ills, such as poverty, climate change, and inequality, businesses need to play a pivotal role. Through responsible management education, the school will continue to develop students to become future leaders who emphasize the sustainable value for business and society alike.
As a PRME Champion, GIBS commits to:
- Working collaboratively to achieve higher levels of performance in transforming business and management education in five key areas: curricula, research, educational frameworks, sustainability-based partnerships, and thought leadership.
- Serving the broader PRME community through active engagement with existing PRME chapters, PRME working groups, Global Compact LEAD, and other global opportunities, as well as supporting broader and deeper implementation of sustainability principles in the institutional context of the PRME initiative.
- Contributing to broader UN goals and issues, particularly helping to realize the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaking to attendees, Lise Kingo, chief executive officer of the UN Global Compact, said: “We at the UN Global Compact recognize this opportunity, and are committed to working together with you in business schools through PRME - on the global level as well as through our 76 local networks around the world — to guide and support you to achieve your sustainability objectives".
“Business and management schools play a key role in shaping the skills and mindsets of future leaders, and can be powerful drivers of corporate sustainability”, Jonas Haertle, head of PRME, said in comments during the dinner. “But in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Global Goals, today’s higher education institutions must change the way they teach about business, and more systematically incorporate values like sustainability, ethics and responsibility into their teaching, research, and campus leadership”.
For further information contact:
Luleka Mtongana
Communications manager
Gordon Institute of Business Science
Tel: +27 (0)11 771 4377/ +27 (0)72 273 2249
mtonganal@gibs.co.za