New Corporate Knights Better World MBA Ranking reveals uptick in core course content, research in sustainability

Warwick holds on to top rank as leader of sustainable business programs globally

TORONTO, Nov. 8, 2019 /CNW/ - Today Corporate Knights released its 17^th annual Better World MBA Ranking, with the U.K.'s Warwick Business School retaining its position as the top program and improving its overall score due to an increase in the number of core courses that integrate sustainability content and an improvement in gender diversity amongst its faculty.

York University's Schulich School of Business landed in second place this year, moving up one spot from the previous year. The top five programs were rounded out by the U.K.'s University of Bath School of Management, the University of Vermont's Grossman School of Business in the U.S., and the Griffith Business School in Australia. The Top 40 represent programs from ten countries, and ten of those programs are Canadian.

The research process uncovered a noticeable uptick in published academic research related to sustainability from business school faculty. New academic journals devoted to sustainability and the climate crisis are also on the rise. Core and elective courses in business schools are integrating more sustainability topics into their subject material, such as the University of Guelph's required Business Fundamentals course for MBAs, which now covers sustainable development, diversity and ethical management. These developments are indicative of a demand from students to train for meaningful work in the business sector, as well as demand from employers to help solve the pressing social and environmental problems that threaten the future of businesses.

"As the climate emergency alarm bell sounds and social tensions threaten to unravel the compact on which capitalism depends, The Better World Business Schools are at the forefront of a sea change in business education focused on preparing tomorrow's business leaders to be a force for good," said Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights.

To determine the ranking, Corporate Knights evaluated 146 business schools (up from 141 in 2018), including all of the 2018 Financial Times top 100 MBA programs, every program that made the Top 40 in the Corporate Knights Better World MBA Ranking in 2019, and select business programs accredited by AMBA, AACSB or EQUIS, and Principles for Responsible Management Education signatories that responded to our outreach.

From this pool, programs are evaluated across five key performance indicators: the number of sustainability-focused articles in peer-reviewed journals and citations (30% and 20% respectively), the number of core courses that incorporate sustainable development topics (30%), research institutes and centres devoted to sustainable development issues (10%) and faculty gender and racial diversity in the business school (5% each).

About Corporate Knights: Founded in 2002, Corporate Knights Inc. includes the sustainable business magazine Corporate Knights and a research division that produces rankings and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance, including the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. Corporate Knights was named Magazine of the Year in 2013 and won the SABEW Canada Silver Award for Investigative Reporting in 2019.

2019 BETTER WORLD MBA RANKING

Rank - 2018	Rank - 2019	School	Country
1	1	Warwick University – Warwick Business School	United Kingdom
3	2	York University – Schulich School of Business	Canada
15	3	University of Bath – School of Management	United Kingdom
5	4	University of Vermont – Grossman School of Business	United States
4	5	Griffith Business School	Australia
10	6	Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT Sloan School of Management	United States
27	7	Durham University Business School	United Kingdom
12	8	TIAS School for Business and Society	Netherlands
6	9	Georgia Institute of Technology – Scheller College of Business	United States
8	10	Saint Mary's University – Sobey School of Business	Canada
18	11	University of Nottingham	United Kingdom
11	12	Fordham University – Gabelli School of Business	United States
19	13	University of Victoria – Peter B. Gustavson School of Business	Canada
16	14	McGill University – Desautels Faculty of Management	Canada
14	15	Copenhagen Business School	Denmark
22	16	University of Edinburgh Business School	United Kingdom
20	17	University of Manchester – Alliance Manchester Business School	United Kingdom
9	18	University of Guelph – Sustainable Commerce	Canada
2	19	University of Exeter	United Kingdom
7	20	INSEAD	France
23	21	KAIST	South Korea
44	22	University of Cambridge – Cambridge Judge Business School	United Kingdom
31	23	University of California at Berkeley – Haas School of Business	United States
33	24	Concordia University – John Molson School of Business	Canada
32	25	Erasmus University – Rotterdam School of Management	Netherlands
21	26	Simon Fraser University – Beedie School of Business	Canada
26	27	University of British Columbia – Sauder School of Business	Canada
13	28	Duquesne University – Palumbo-Donahue School of Business	United States
N/A	29	Lundquist College of Business	United States
37	30	Yale University – Yale School of Management	United States
36	31	University of Toronto – Joseph L. Rotman School of Management	Canada
39	32	Brandeis University	United States
29	33	University of Strathclyde – Strathclyde Business School	United Kingdom
17	34	University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School	United States
N/A	35	Sheffield University Management School	United Kingdom
69	36	University of Pittsburgh – Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business	United States
42	37	Ryerson University – Ted Rogers School of Management	Canada
46	38	University of Mannheim – Mannheim Business School	Germany
N/A	39	La Trobe University – La Trobe Business School	Australia
45	40	University of Cape Town – Graduate School of Business	South Africa

SOURCE Corporate Knights Inc.

Toby Heaps, Publisher and CEO, Corporate Knights, 416-203-4674 x223, [email protected]

Related Links

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