PRME was founded in 2007 as a platform to raise the profile of sustainability in universities around the world and equip today’s business students with the understanding and ability to deliver change tomorrow. Over the last decade PRME has grown to encompass over 650 signatories worldwide, who regularly work together to advance the Six Principles underpinning the initiative.
These include creating educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership, as well as interacting with managers of businesses to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities.
In addition to our work in relation to PRME, we are also placing an increasing focus on how our teaching, research, and engagement activities can support the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The 17 SDGs, which form part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, were adopted by world leaders in 2015 and officially came into force on 1 January 2016. The aim of the SDGs is to encourage countries to focus their efforts on ending all forms of poverty, fighting inequalities, addressing climate change, and ensuring that no one is left behind.
The objectives of the SDGs – and indeed PRME – are undoubtedly ambitious. In order to achieve them, or even come close, as many institutions, organisations and individuals as possible need to play a role. At QMS we recognise our responsibility in this regard. While our membership of the PRME community is relatively new, our commitment to ethics, responsibility and sustainability is long-standing and steadfast. One example of how we address ERS within the School is through our portfolio of modules. In some cases this takes the form of analysing ERS issues within the context of a subject such as supply chain management, financial accounting, or behavioural economics. Alternatively, there are a number of dedicated modules, such as undergraduate Business Ethics, which requires final year students to analyse and report on real world organisations that have arguably failed to uphold their ethical obligations. In addition, the 2018-2019 academic year will see the introduction of a new postgraduate module on Business Governance and Ethics that will blend theory, research and professional practice to advance the knowledge and skills of participants.
We look forward to sharing our work in relation to ERS through this new blog. In the meantime, if you would like more information please contact the QMS ERS Champion, Dr Laura Steele.
