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Instytucje naukowe

Academic Participation in the Global Compact

Academia adds critical dimensions to the Global Compact?s operations. Through thought leadership, research, educational resources, learning know-how, and educational infrastructure, this sector can increase knowledge and understanding of corporate citizenship, and thereby advance the agenda of the Global Compact at the local and global level. In addition, academia plays an important role in shaping future business leaders and educating them on the importance of responsible citizenship. Thus, it becomes a powerful driver of the Global Compact as a whole.

Academic institutions can participate in the Global Compact in two ways:

Business schools or management-related academic institutions are encouraged to participate in a broad coalition with other partners and engage in the Principles for Responsible Management Education initiative.
Academic institutions can also engage and provide much needed applied research for the Global Compact as a whole or in particular for Global Compact participating companies, Local Networks or the Global Compact Office by producing ground-breaking research, exercising their role as thought leaders to advance the mission of making global markets more sustainable and inclusive ? or by providing services to help companies make progress in implementing the Global Compact principles (see below: Academic Network).

Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME)

The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), launched at the 2007 Global Compact Leaders Summit in Geneva, provide an engagement framework specifically for academic institutions to advance corporate social responsibility through the incorporation of universal values into curricula and research. The PRME have been developed by an international task force of sixty deans, university presidents and official representatives of leading business schools and follow from a recommendation of all academic stakeholders of the Global Compact.

Please click here to see video of official launch of the PRME.

The PRME initiative is governed jointly by the UN Global Compact Office and other members of the PRME Steering Committee:

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International),
European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD)
Aspen Institute?s Business and Society Program
European Academy for Business in Society (EABIS)
Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC)
Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI)
Net Impact

The PRME Secretariat is hosted by the UN Global Compact Office.

How an academic institution can endorse the PRME

All business schools and management-related academic institutions are invited to consider the adoption of the Principles for Responsible Management Education.

More details about the PRME Initiative and information on how academic institutions can sign up to PRME can be found on the official PRME website at www.unprme.org

The Principles for Responsible Management Education

As institutions of higher learning involved in the education of current and future managers we are voluntarily committed to engaging in a continuous process of improvement of the following Principles, reporting on progress to all our stakeholders and exchanging effective practices with other academic institutions:

Principle 1. Purpose : We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.

Principle 2. Values : We will incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.

Principle 3. Method : We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.

Principle 4. Research : We will engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our understanding about the role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value.

Principle 5. Partnership : We will interact with managers of business corporations to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges.

Principle 6. Dialogue : We will facilitate and support dialog and debate among educators, business, government, consumers, media, civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability.

We understand that our own organizational practices should serve as example of the values and attitudes we convey to our students.

Call for Action

Global responsibility is a process from emerging awareness to action. It is based on the richness, diversity and varying contexts of our world, and it is a process of participation and involvement of the main change agents.

The United Nations Global Compact hereby calls all institutions and associations of higher learning dedicated to the education of business leaders to endorse this process and to participate actively in a global platform for responsible management education.

The role of the platform will be to advocate responsible management education and coordinate efforts to further develop these Principles by the agents that can generate change: management-related academic institutions and their associations.

To that effect a world gathering of management educators including professors, deans and associations involved in the advancement of management education will be convened.

To advance this effort, all business schools whose representatives have participated in the drafting of these Principles are invited to consider the adoption of the Principles.

The Academic Network of the Global Compact

The Global Compact Academic Network is open to all academic institutions (universities, colleges, and business schools; university departments, research departments; chairs; and other academic organizations) which are committed to implementing the ten principles of the Global Compact in their organization and which are willing to collaborate as strategic partners in the progress of the initiative.

Academic institutions willing to join the Global Compact Academic Network are asked to:

Send a letter of support to the Secretary-General together with a questionnaire (Please click here for a sample letter of support and the questionnaire)
Undertake activities to advance the agenda of the Global Compact, and
Subsequently, report annually on their progress through a case story.

Activities undertaken by Academic Institutions

The Global Compact Academic Network entails a wide array of academic institutions, from entire universities as well as colleges or business schools, to smaller units such as university departments, research centers or chairs. These institutions show their commitment to the Global Compact by bringing significant strategic added-value through actions in the following five areas (Please click on the hyperlinks below for examples/specific engagement opportunities):

Activities from participating academic institutions might entail the use of the Global Compact logo and name. Academic institutions are also encouraged to use the logo ?We Support the Global Compact?. Please click here for the Global Compact logo policy.

Reporting progress by academic institutions

Progress by academic institutions with respect to the Global Compact ten principles is different than for companies. In the case of academic institutions their progress should be assessed in an action oriented way: in terms of their efforts to educate responsible leaders, advance relevant research, disseminate international values of corporate citizenship, give technical support to responsible business or lend capacity to Global Compact Local Networks. At the moment, communicating progress will be achieved by reporting activities through an annual example or case story presentation. However, academic institutions already communicating their progress through a COP are welcome to continue this practice.