GIBS chosen a UN PRME Champion for 2018/19 cycle

30 Jan 2018

The United Nations Global Compact and Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) has selected the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) as one of the 38 global business schools for the 2018-19 Champions Cycle. PRME officially announced the 2018-2019 Champion schools at the Global 100 Executive Roundtable in Davos, Switzerland on 23 January 2018, coinciding with the World Economic Forum.

Image: UN Global Compact - @globalcompact

The Champion’s Cycle centres 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 who are recognised 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 recognised as a PRME Ambassador.

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 recognised as a PRME Champion. In a world of growing inequality, we believe that business schools have a vital role to play in fostering business behaviour that drives inclusive growth.”

GIBS recognises 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 emphasise 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 to support 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 realise the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

“Business and management schools play a key role in shaping the skills and mind-sets of future leaders, and can be powerful drivers of corporate sustainability,” said Jonas Haertle, head of PRME. “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.”