For the past few decades, there has been an ever growing importance placed on ethical business and corporate and social responsibility (CSR) throughout the MBA world.
In fact, with the impact of the un-ethical business practices that helped to bring about the global financial crisis of recent years, business schools have, rightly or wrongly faced much criticism over what some commentators saw as a lack of significance of business ethics being taught on MBA programs.
However, for over a decade the Aspen Institute has produced a sustainability-focused MBA ranking, aimed at highlighting the business schools and MBA programs that place importance on the teaching of social and environmental impact within their core MBA course offerings.
Beyond Grey Pinstripes: the sustainability MBA ranking
The Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes sustainability MBA ranking is unique in that it “celebrates coursework, research and activities that prepare MBAs for social, ethical and environmental stewardship.”
The MBA ranking is designed to not only highlight the institutions that are helping to promote the idea of ethics and impact in business, but also as an aid for MBA applicants interested in sustainability, CSR or ethics to select programs that are most aligned with their business goals.
The ranking identifies business schools which are best at preparing their students for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day business. Results are based on four ‘raw score’ metrics; availability of relevant courses (20%), student exposure (25%), relevant courses on for-profit business (30%), and faculty research (25%). The full methodology of the Beyond Grey Pinstripes sustainability MBA ranking is available on the Aspen Institute’s website.
The Aspen Institute states that its main evaluation criteria in deciding its Beyond Grey Pinstripes sustainability MBA ranking are:
- Required and elective courses with innovative content addressing social, ethical and environmental impact issues, especially in the context of for-profit business,
- Faculty research on social, ethical and environmental topics published in peer-reviewed business journals.
TopMBA.com is proud to be able to help the Aspen Institute in spreading the sustainability MBA ranking’s message by re-publishing them. You can view the original Beyond Grey Pinstripes sustainability MBA ranking here.
