A business course that once focused on maximizing shareholder profit now teaches how to measure purposeful value creation. A risk-management class, once strictly concerned with fiscal threats to corporate profits, now assesses climate impacts on bottom-line decisions. These are just a couple of the upgrades that have made Australia’s Griffith Business School the most sustainable MBA program in the world, according to Corporate Knights, for the third year in a row.

“The key is to never get complacent,” says Stephanie Schleimer, Griffith’s MBA director, of the school’s commitment to curriculum renewal.

Of the 160 schools assessed in this year’s Corporate Knights Better World ranking of the most sustainable MBA programs, several trends stand out. On a positive note, top-40 schools as a group demonstrate a growing commitment to infuse sustainability – present in about half (49%) of core content this year compared to 39% in 2021, and well above the average of 22% for all schools.

As well, the proportion of citations per faculty on sustainability-related articles in peer-reviewed journals climbed to an average of 31% this year compared to 27% last year, and well above the mark of 13% for all schools.

However, progress slowed on the presence of diverse faculty, with top-40 schools reporting an average of 23% compared to 33% a year ago.

No one factor explains the improved performance of top-40 schools, but several drivers could be in play, including a growing student appetite for sustainability-rich curricula and increased access to research funds that promote collaborative work on environmental, social and governance (ESG) topics. Leading business schools are also revising their mission statements to redefine their role in training a new generation of business leaders to understand purpose and profit.

Griffith Business School, part of a university that positions itself as a values-led institution, earned top marks for rich core content tied to the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a high level of sustainability-rich citations in peer-reviewed academic journals.

The key is to never get complacent.

-Stephanie Schleimer, MBA director for Griffith Business School

Griffith also seeks out experts beyond its walls to tackle complex problems. For a refreshed accounting course, business professors turned to the university’s International Water Centre for advice on how to value water, a natural resource, for corporate balance sheets.

“When we think about business being able to solve the biggest problems of the world and create a values-centred approach for a better future, we have to take this multi-stakeholder perspective,” says Schleimer.

Griffith’s approach is paying dividends in student applications – up 18% in 2022 over the previous year – while more than 95% of inquiries into the MBA in the past six months were from those wanting a sustainability-focused program, she says.

Among other schools making steady progress toward embedding sustainability is Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. Up one position to second place in the Better World list, Warwick dates its earliest modules on sustainability to 2011. Over time, more were added; two years ago, the topic was woven into all core courses. Two recently added MBA modules examine how to manage sustainable energy transitions and create sustainable businesses.

“We felt this was a capability that all functions of management disciplines needed to consider,” says professor of practice David Elmes, a leading researcher on sustainability at Warwick.

Give MBA students what they want: sustainability

Student interest in learning about sustainability topics is growing. In MBA student dissertations or projects required for Warwick’s degree, the proportion of sustainability topics has “shot up” to between 30 and 40% of students, compared to 5 to 10% several years ago, he notes.

Like Warwick, the University of Guelph’s Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics, once again in fifth place, joins other top-40 schools in moving to explicitly link research to the SDGs. A major donor gift by the family of the late Gordon Lang in 2019 included funds for an Institute for Sustainable Commerce, a hub for research on business sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and circular economy innovations.

The institute provides seed money (about $20,000 a year) for research on sustainable commerce projects, enabling professors to develop ideas for potential large-scale funding by others.

“To use these funds as a strategic lever to move things in the direction of our larger strategy is critical,” says Sean Lyons, Lang’s associate dean of research and graduate studies. “We are building forward on a sustainability-focused research program.”

This year, the school published its first annual report linking research to the SDGs. As well, to better disseminate knowledge, the school plans to hold a conference next spring to show off seed-money projects to students, alumni and businesses.

That intentional move to connect to the world is a growing pattern among schools.

Toronto Metropolitan University’s Ted Rogers School of Management, which moved up three spots to eighth position in the ranking, this year piloted a course on board governance and the law. Students worked with non-profit organizations, with two later invited to join as board directors.

“The law for non-profits has changed, and our students could help them work through the changing laws,” says Donna Smith, graduate program director of MBA programs at Ted Rogers. “They are having social impact.”

We felt this was a capability that all functions of management disciplines needed to consider.

-David Elmes, a professor and leading researcher on sustainability at Warwick Business School

A central theme of the school’s MBA is “leading for performance and well-being,” she says, with topics on ESG issues woven through core courses, such as managing responsibly.

“We try to look at different ways of thinking about how businesses can incorporate sustainability and some of the SDGs in intentional ways that can be profitable for business and at the same time do something good for society and the earth,” says Smith.

Social impact looms large for Centrum, the business school of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, which jumped to 10th spot this year after no previous top-40 appearances. The Lima-based school reimagined its MBA program in 2018, weaving sustainability into core curricula and committing to graduate socially aware future leaders.

“The purpose of the school is to develop a good business, which means a business that balances both financial results and societal impact,” says Sandro Sanchez, who designed the revamped MBA and became program director in 2020.

For the MBA, which sets responsible corporate behaviour as one of its learning goals, Centrum students volunteer 36 hours to mentor and support, among others, underserved students, women and small businesses. Students also complete a capstone MBA project on a social issue.

Like many, Centrum is expanding collaboration on sustainability with other business schools, businesses and non-governmental organizations. “Basically, it is about generating impact – real impact,” says Sanchez.

Making sustainability a centrepiece of MBA programs

Similar ambitions underpin recent changes at the University of Miami’s Herbert Business School, which moved up six spots to 15th on the ranking. Sustainability, once informally present in curricula, now serves as the centrepiece of a new statement of school purpose.

“We want recognition as an institution that does impactful work in fostering sustainable prosperity,” says Harihara Natarajan, Herbert’s vice-dean of business programs, emphasizing sustainability in curricula upgrades, research and outreach.

For its redefined MBA, the school infused sustainability themes in all functional areas of business, with a view to cover “different and evolving viewpoints on capitalism to give our students a well-rounded perspective,” he notes.

As well, university research grants promote cross-disciplinary collaboration, enabling Herbert faculty to work with counterparts in engineering and architecture on ways to protect coastal areas from rising sea levels. Through a sustainable business research cluster at Herbert, professors worked with researchers from Harvard University and Oxford University on accounting for climate change.

Enthusiastic about progress to date, Natarajan is hungry for more. “I realize we have a lot of things going on, but we still feel like we are scratching the surface,” he says, echoing aspirations of other business school leaders. “There is a lot more we can do.”