Coveted MBA ranking sheds light on UBC Sauder's sustainability education
UBC Sauder School of Business has once again made it to the Corporate Knights Better World MBA Ranking for 2018, earning the 26th spot amongst top 40 programs.
Corporate Knights’ Better World MBA Ranking has a 15-year-long history of evaluating global business school programs' success in integrating sustainability-centred knowledge and skills into business education.
The 2018 edition of the ranking recognizes the full-time MBA program offered at the Robert H. Lee Graduate School.
Over the years, the MBA program has given rise to driven business leaders, entrepreneurs and industry thought leaders whose ideas and ventures have incorporated sustainable values and inspired value creation.
The full-time MBA program curriculum captures UBC Sauder's pursuit towards excellence in innovation and social impact. It reinforces sustainability, ethics and responsible leadership, and the faculty encourages students to incorporate these pillars as key components of the business decision-making process.
The 2018 World MBA Rankings further highlights UBC Sauder's success in providing tools and values to build an inclusive and prosperous enterprise that respects its surrounding environments and communities.
“UBC Sauder’s position in the 2018 Better World MBA Rankings is a reflection of the passion and commitment our students, faculty and staff have for bettering our organizations, communities and society through innovation and responsible leadership,” said Teresa Pan, Assistant Dean of the Robert H. Lee Graduate School.
The coveted spot in rankings are a result of rigorous evaluations -- core courses, faculty research intensity and faculty racial and gender diversity are some of the performance indicators where UBC Sauder scored high points.
Sustainability and ethics: leading by example
The launch of Peter P. Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics in 2015 illustrated UBC Sauder's focused and comprehensive approach to business ethics teaching, research and outreach. The school's commitment to sustainability-driven enterprises is also visible in its support for e@ubc's Social Venture stream.
UBC Sauder's full-time MBA program is giving rise to the next generation of leaders who are advancing the philosophy of sustainability outside of classrooms.
Vanja (VJ) Terzic, a 2018 alumnus of the MBA program at UBC Sauder, explained that a program focussed on sustainability and community-building can inspire students on the path towards value creation. Along with a fellow graduate Ben McDonald, he helped launch a pilot project called Ch’nook Indigenous Business Education Program (IBEP), which brought a condensed student-led business curriculum to three Indigenous communities in rural B.C.
"The MBA program through its courses and also through its global learning opportunities, such as SSE-Kenya, allows us to build skills and values that are consistent with sustainable business practices," said Terzic.
"It's not something that's taught only in one class, but is integrated across courses. The faculty explored sustainability as a guiding principle and not just an added cost or a checkbox that companies are ticking off. We were constantly challenged to think about how it can forge with a company's values and core business."