News Release

The Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School has endorsed the Principles for Responsible Management Education, a United Nations-backed global initiative to promote corporate responsibility and sustainability in business education.

The PRME initiative has been endorsed by more than 100 business schools and universities around the world.

"Our endorsement of these principles underscores our mission: to be a community of learning anchored by ethical behavior, grounded in the humanistic tradition, committed to developing global business leaders and solving our most pressing societal problems through discovery and entrepreneurship in partnership with our colleagues from across Johns Hopkins," said Yash Gupta, dean of the Carey Business School.

Institutions that endorse the initiative, which was launched under the patronage of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in July 2007, commit to align their mission and strategy, as well as their core competencies — education, research and thought leadership — with U.N. values embodied by the six PRME principles for responsible management education:

Purpose (developing student capabilities)

Values (global economic responsibility)

Method (effective educational frameworks)

Research (understanding corporate impact)

Partnership (interacting with business)

Dialog (discussing global social responsibility and sustainability)

Actions encouraged under the initiative's framework include curriculum development integrating corporate responsibility and research in support of sustainable management systems, as well as public advocacy and opinion leadership to advance responsible business practices.

"The PRME initiative mirrors the mission and shared values of the Carey Business School," said Lindsay Thompson, assistant professor in the School's Department of Management, and school contact for PRME. "Through our curriculum and instruction, our students are thoroughly familiar with the United Nations Global Compact, which is a framework for socially, ethically, and environmentally responsible business practices. This initiative provides a platform to create a true international coalition of like- minded schools already espousing these philosophies."

"Thanks to the joint outreach by all partners, the PRME initiative has reached this critical milestone of 100 signatories," said Manuel Escudero, head of academic initiatives at the U.N. Global Compact, one of the initiative's co-conveners. Speaking on behalf of the PRME Steering Committee, Escudero said that "this will enable the initiative to bring good efforts to scale and truly embed the sustainability agenda in the training of future business leaders."

The initiative is currently establishing several participant working groups to assist the implementation of the principles and identify best practices. In addition, a Global Forum for Responsible Management Education will be convened Dec. 1-2 at U.N. headquarters in New York. The event will present a first opportunity for business school participants to take stock of the PRME initiative so far, to exchange experiences, and to forge a closer link between the United Nations' mission and the work of business schools.

Building on nine decades of business programs at Johns Hopkins, the Carey Business School began operations on Jan. 1, 2007, thanks to a $50 million gift from Johns Hopkins trustee emeritus and W. P. Carey & Company LLC Chairman Wm. Polk Carey, through his W.P. Carey Foundation.

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PRME
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