Abstract
The authors explore the potential relevance of the United Nations initiative Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) in 50 years’ time, including whether, and how, the six Principles on which it is based will change in any way.
PRME was initiated in 2007 by over 60 Deans of Business Schools worldwide in response to the UN Global Compact to address sustainability in management education (more information can be found at www.unprme.org). Since 2007, PRME has influenced academic discourse related to sustainability in management education and, in turn, has had a wider impact, for instance on business schools’ programme portfolios, curricula and accreditation standards, illustrated by those of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
More than 10 years’ after the launch of PRME, the need to address sustainability in management education is perhaps becoming even more acute, in part due to indirect and contextual issues, including those relating to the environment and geopolitics, and in part due to more direct factors, such as the trends in artificial intelligence. In this context, the authors consider whether PRME might still exist in 2068 and, if so, what it might look like. The research is based on semi-structured discussions with senior managers, academics and students of a number of PRME signatory higher education institutions.
The discussions focused on five questions:
1. Looking ahead to 2068, what issues do you feel are likely to emerge and/or become more pronounced for management education?
2. Taking into account any issues identified (in question 1), to what extent do you feel the Six Principles are ‘future proof’ or will require to be re-defined and/or modified?
3. Do you feel that PRME will continue to exist in 2068 and, if it does, would you regard that as a success or a failure?
4. If you think it will exist in 2068, what do you imagine a PRME model might look like? If you do not believe it will exist, what factors do you think might lead to it ceasing to exist?
5. If you had three questions to ask a clairvoyant, what would you ask about a PRME model in 2068?
This paper reports the findings to date.
PRME was initiated in 2007 by over 60 Deans of Business Schools worldwide in response to the UN Global Compact to address sustainability in management education (more information can be found at www.unprme.org). Since 2007, PRME has influenced academic discourse related to sustainability in management education and, in turn, has had a wider impact, for instance on business schools’ programme portfolios, curricula and accreditation standards, illustrated by those of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
More than 10 years’ after the launch of PRME, the need to address sustainability in management education is perhaps becoming even more acute, in part due to indirect and contextual issues, including those relating to the environment and geopolitics, and in part due to more direct factors, such as the trends in artificial intelligence. In this context, the authors consider whether PRME might still exist in 2068 and, if so, what it might look like. The research is based on semi-structured discussions with senior managers, academics and students of a number of PRME signatory higher education institutions.
The discussions focused on five questions:
1. Looking ahead to 2068, what issues do you feel are likely to emerge and/or become more pronounced for management education?
2. Taking into account any issues identified (in question 1), to what extent do you feel the Six Principles are ‘future proof’ or will require to be re-defined and/or modified?
3. Do you feel that PRME will continue to exist in 2068 and, if it does, would you regard that as a success or a failure?
4. If you think it will exist in 2068, what do you imagine a PRME model might look like? If you do not believe it will exist, what factors do you think might lead to it ceasing to exist?
5. If you had three questions to ask a clairvoyant, what would you ask about a PRME model in 2068?
This paper reports the findings to date.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Unpublished - 13 Dec 2018 |
