GLOBAL FORUM FOR RESPONSIBLE MANAGEMENT EDUCATION CAN RAISE BAR FOR BUSINESS

EDUCATION, INSPIRE RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Global Forum for Responsible Management Education, today, 5 December, in New York:

It is a pleasure to join you for this important forum.

I recall meeting many of you last year at the Global Compact Leaders Summit.

Your presentation of the Principles for Responsible Management Education was one of the highlights of that gathering, and set the stage for some very fruitful cooperation between the United Nations and academia.

Indeed, there has been significant progress over the past year and a half.  A remarkable 178 business schools from every continent are participating in this initiative.

All are committed to advancing corporate responsibility by including universal values in their curriculum and research.

All can shape generations of business leaders and help bring to life our shared vision of a sustainable and inclusive globalization that benefits the greatest number of people, including the poor.

More than 5,000 companies have now joined the United Nations Global Compact.  They are acting on a diverse range of issues, from poverty and corruption to supply chain management.  The Compact offers a big umbrella, and is helping business -- and the world -- make progress on some of the critical challenges we face.  Our Caring for Climate initiative, for example, is the world’s largest of its kind, with more than 300 signatories.

There is much that this Forum can do to build on these promising developments.

As teachers, you can ensure that tomorrow’s leaders understand that the long-term growth of a business is tied to its environmental and social impact.

As scholars, you can produce research that drives innovation and helps management to recognize the benefits of being a responsible business.

And as thought leaders and advocates in your communities, you help advance awareness of broader challenges, opportunities and responsibilities. 

The corporate responsibility movement is driven by our need to find collaborative solutions to pressing environmental and social challenges.  In this sense, your contributions support the broader goals of the United Nations.

It is my hope that you will also help foster better cooperation between business and other actors, notably civil society organizations involved in trying to advance human rights, labour standards and good corporate governance.

I also hope that today’s forum marks just the beginning of a truly global movement that will raise the bar for business education.

Together, we can ensure that management science is rooted in the concepts of sustainability and corporate citizenship.

Together, we can bring more positive change to management education.

Thank you again for your engagement and support.  Thank you very much.

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For information media • not an official record