XLRI in global ethics network

From The Telegraph

Jamshedpur, April 8: XLRI has set a record of sorts by becoming the first B-school in India to become part of a UN global initiative promoting corporate social responsibility, values and ethics.

The business school is now a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), which provide an engagement framework for academic institutions to advance corporate social responsibility by incorporating universal values into curricula and research. PRME is a part of Global Compact, a framework for organisations committed to do business by safeguarding human rights, labour and environment, and by being anti-corrupt.

“PRME is a UN-backed global initiative developed to promote corporate responsibility and sustainability in business education. It has been endorsed by more than 100 business schools and universities around the world. It is a proud privilege that XLRI is the first and the only Indian B-school to be part of this global conglomerate,” said Father E. Abraham, the director of XLRI. The agreement between XLRI and the UN was signed in Geneva last year. “They (the UN) were in the process of signing similar deals with other international B-schools. The announcement was made on Monday,” said a XLRI official.

The coming days would see XLRI incorporate core values of the UN Global Compact programme in its activities and curriculum.

Raguram said: “Not only management education institutions but major companies are also moving towards this programme with the need for managers who can understand core values such as corporate social responsibility and corporate environmental responsibility. There is a dearth of such management graduates and UN has taken this initiative to incorporate values and ethics in business education.”

Some of the leading multinationals that have incorporated PRME into their framework are GE and Suzlon.

The B-school would now start moulding its vision and mission on the lines of PRME, introducing subjects and co-related activities based on its principles.

“We will facilitate and support dialogue and debate among educators, businesses, governments, consumers, media, civil society and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability,” added Abraham.