Nottingham University Business School remains the UK's leading
provider for MBAs which offer future business leaders a valuable
insight into wider corporate social responsibility, according to a
prestigious international survey.
It is the fourth time the school has retained the top national
spot in the Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranking, an independent biennial
survey of the world's Top 100 MBAs focused on social and
environmental impact conducted by The Aspen Institute in the
US.
In the 2011 survey, Nottingham also outstrips all other UK
business schools - and comes in at 23 globally - in the research
element of the ranking, which judges faculties on the quality of
its research output incorporating social, ethical and environmental
business issues.
Professor Martin Binks, Dean of Nottingham University Business
School, said: "I am delighted that The Aspen Institute ranking
confirms our leadership among UK business schools in fully
integrating sustainability and corporate social responsibility
issues into our MBA curriculum and faculty research.
"Sustainability in business is having a significant impact on
organisations and it is vital that we equip our graduates with the
knowledge and skills to deal with complex business
environments."
Nottingham has been a leader in sustainable and ethical business
teaching and research since it launched its International Centre
for Corporate Social Responsibility almost 10 years ago in 2002.
When it launched its MBA in Corporate Social Responsibility a year
later it became the first course of its kind in the UK.
Since then, the addition of a taught MSc in CSR and modules in
areas as diverse as ethical finance, corporate governance, social
entrepreneurship, and sustainable management running through its
undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive education programmes,
the Business School has become a major draw for students and
organisations interested in sustainable business practices.
Nottingham University Business School boasts some of the world's
leading experts on CSR topics such as reporting and diversity,
education and the impact that it is having on the corporate
landscape in Asia.
For the 2011-12 Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranking, 149 schools from
22 countries submitted information on the social and environmental
elements of its courses, research, extracurricular activities,
institutes and centres, joint degrees and specialisations.
The project team spent seven months analysing the data before
arriving at its Top 100 ranking, which is broken down further into
four main categories - the number of courses featuring relevant
content; the proportion of students exposed to CSR content,
business impact ie. the number of relevant courses that focus on
the positive role for-profit business can play in social and
environmental change; and the CSR-related research paper
output.
The overall global top spot for the 2011 rankings went to US
giant Stanford Graduate School of Business, while York University
in Canada was found to be strongest for its ethical and sustainable
research output.
Nottingham University Business School attained an overall global
ranking of 45 and came in eighth among European institutions.