Looking Back at 2022 and Looking Ahead to 2023

LOOKING BACK AT 2022

It is with great pride that I look back at 2022 and the many PRME achievements from all corners of the world. First and foremost, I would like to emphasize the impressive work and continued support that is outspoken in all regions of the world from all business schools and universities to PRME. It is a privilege to head the PRME global movement.

Below are a few highlights from 2022 and a brief outline of the prospects for 2023.

Two new global projects in 2022

• Official start of the PRME (i5) Leadership Development program in January, a three-year program made possible by a generous grant from the LEGO Foundation. The purpose is to develop business school students’ skillsets by training business school faculty in new pedagogies, while simultaneously developing incentive structures and assessment frameworks for the faculty development needed to support. The PRME Secretariat established the PRME (i5) ExPeg team (with the appointment of one faculty from all PRME Chapters and facilitated by Harvard University), the (i5) Advisory Board, and the assessment team (led by Sulitest).

• The official start of the PRME Commons Platform (PCP) in December, a three-year program made possible by a generous grant from the Economics of Mutuality Foundation. The purpose is to develop a digital platform for global knowledge exchange about responsible management education and research, drawing on the SIP Reports from PRME business schools as a fundamental source of inspiration and learning.

Global Events in 2022

• 2022 Virtual PRME Global Forum– with more than 1,000 registered participants from all continents and Western and Eastern Hemisphere programmes to accommodate timezones, 5 keynotes, 30 sessions, 18 participating Board members, and 115 speakers representing a 50/50 gender balance.

• 3rd PRME Annual Chapter Forum, with more than 100 participants and a new format purposefully supporting Chapter work.

• PGS Annual Summit– with approximately 700 registrants

• PRME Secretariat supported dozens of webinars for PRME Working Groups, including three rounds of Climate Literacy Training webinars where more than 200 faculty and students earned a CLT certificate.

• PRME Chapters produced hundreds of hours of programming during meetings & conferences, many of which were in person for the first time since the pandemic, to convene thousands of PRME academics, business and civil society organizations, and students in support of responsible management education.

• PRME World Tour Research Paper Development took off, chaired by Professor Andy Crane in partnership with two leading international journals in the responsible management and business-in-society field: Business & Society and Journal of Business Ethics.

• PRME Blog published 6 new blog posts from renowned faculty members and students in the RME ecosystem.

• PRME Chapter Africa launched its regional edition of Business Schools for Climate Leadership (BS4CL) during COP 27 in Egypt. PRME Champions launched the ‘PRME Blueprint for SDG Integration in Business Schools’, a resource for education, research, and partnerships on SDGs in business schools.

Governance update in 2022

• PRME Board welcomed three new Board members in 2022: Ann Harrison, Dean of Haas Business School, Berkeley University; Andrew Karolyi, Dean of the SC Johnson School of Business, Cornell University and Ajit Parulekar, Dean/Director of GOA Indian Institute of Management

• Established the new (i5) Advisory Board to oversee the Impactful Five (i5) Project, chaired by John Goodwin.

• VIVA Idea completed its Strategic Action Coordination process by submitting a report based on 18 months of interviews and workshops with PRME Chapters and the PRME Secretariat.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2023

During COP27, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said about the global climate crisis, “The good news is that we know what to do and we have the financial and technological tools to get the job done. It is time for nations to come together for implementation. It is time for international solidarity across the board.” Guterres is specifically calling on global communities who guarantee a safe space for ‘environmental defenders’ to contribute collectively to a climate response. PRME is indeed such a global community.

In 2023, the PRME Secretariat will make an extra effort to focus on how business schools respond to climate change. For decades, the engineering and natural sciences have developed educational programs to teach their students about climate change. Business Schools have just started this journey. Some PRME business schools have individually committed to engaging even more in climate change education and others have done so in alliances, for example, ‘BS4CL’ in Europe during COP26 and ‘BS4CL Africa’ during COP27). In 2023, the PRME Secretariat will support more initiatives and knowledge exchange on climate action for business schools.

Focus on climate leadership:

• Climate Action will be a key theme at the 2023 PRME Global Forum

• ‘Climate Action Guidelines for Business Schools’ to be launched at the 2023 PRME Global Forum 2023

• ‘BS4CL MENA’ Business Schools for Climate Leadership is planned to be launched by PRME Chapter MENA during COP28 in Dubai

• SIP Reporting will encourage accounting for exchanging knowledge on climate change in business school education, research, and operations

• Continued support for PRME Working Group on Climate Change and their Climate Literacy Trainings of faculty and students.

Significantly, 2023 will also be the year for the exciting beginning of the revised PRME SIP Reporting. We will start with a number of ´Early Adopters’ testing the new SIP Survey during Q1. This work will also mark the beginning of PRME developing the PRME Commons Platform (PCP).

In 2023 the PRME Board will support a ‘Light Review of the PRME Principles’. The six Principles were formulated fifteen years ago and while the world has changed a lot since then, we do not envision a transformational change of the Principles but more a ‘check-in’ and an update. From January until June, a Principles Taskforce will oversee a consultative process including the community, and present the revised Principles at the PRME Global Forum in June.

The coming year will also offer a review of the governance and value proposition of the PRME Champions and the Working Groups. Over the past two years, a significant review of the governance of the PRME Chapters has led to a remarkable strengthening of their development.

Last but not least, 2023 will further strengthen and scale the comprehensive (i5) program with a focus on pedagogies in business schools and faculty skillset development to advance our students’ transversal skills toward the SDGs. The global support from all PRME Chapters to the (i5) programme has been amazing and I am thrilled to see the programme develop into 2023.

The global support from the PRME community from all over the world has been truly amazing. The activities by Chapters, Working Groups, Champions, and PRME Global Students have been inspiring and productive. They have again set new standards and demonstrated progress and knowledge sharing. I want to thank you all for an adventurous, challenging, and progressive 2022 that has again contributed to making PRME one of the most important global business school networks to advance the Sustainable Development Goals by setting a global tone for responsible management education in the UN’s Decade of Action.

We still have a lot of work ahead of us, and I look forward to working with all of you throughout 2023. I wish you all a peaceful and joyful new year.

Warm regards,

Mette Morsing

Head of PRME, PRME Principles for Responsible Management Education

UN Global Compact

New York