October 20th, 2005

Business schools for a better world

The release of the brand new, 2005 “Beyond Grey Pinstripes” report has just been announced. This report, a joint project between the World Resource Institute and The Aspen Institute, attempts to rank the top MBA business programs by their commitment to environmental and social change. For a number of years now, this biennial report has been encouraging business schools to compete on things other than admission selectivity and graduating salaries.

The rise of more socially and environmentally aware business programs encourages traditional business students to consider how these aspects affect the bottom line, while at the same time it encourages activists to consider entrepreneurial approaches to changing the world. After attending an undergraduate business program myself, I know how important it is for schools to incorporate these issues, and how rare it currently is to find one that does.

Another important trend I’ve seen lately is the growth of exclusively “green” business schools. While this report does a great job at ranking the top mainstream schools, this new breed of schools is pretty much left off the list. I’m not sure how many of these there are, but some of the ones I’ve come across are: the New College of California’s Green MBA, Presidio World College, Bainbridge Graduate Institute, and KaosPilots. But whether it’s top mainstream schools like Stanford and Notre Dame, or brand new activist-founded schools, it is great to see that more and more people are getting the tool set to help build a better world.