The United Nations has issued a call for business schools and academic associations to do their part to advance corporate social responsibility worldwide.

The Principles for Responsible Management Education, were unveiled at the 2007 Global Compact Leaders Summit on July 5 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The principles were unveiled to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and hundreds of leaders representing business, civil society, government, and academia from around the world.

The six Principles for Responsible Management Education are:

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.

The Principles of Responsible Management Education are a framework for academic institutions to advance the broader cause of corporate social responsibility and a call for the incorporation of universal values in curricula and research. The initiative was developed by an international task force of sixty deans, university presidents and official representatives of leading business schools. It was co-convened by the United Nations Global Compact, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the European Foundation for Management Development, the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative, and Net Impact.

The principles were presented by an international delegation that included Manuel Escudero, Head Networks and Academic Initiatives, UN Global Compact Office; John Fernandes, President and CEO, AACSB International; Gerard van Schaik, President, EFMD; Peter Lacy, Executive Director, European Academy for Business in Society; Anders Aspling, Secretary General, Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative and Dean, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, Belgium; Angel Cabrera, Chairman PRME task force and President, Thunderbird School of Global Management, USA; Labib Khadra, President, German-Jordanian University, Jordan; Bernardo Barona Zaluga, Dean, Universidad Javeriana Sede Cali, Colombia; David Saunders, Dean, Queen's School of Business, Canada; as well as representatives of ESADE Business School, Spain; XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Management and Human Resources, India, and the China Europe International Business School, China.

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