Aspen Institute - Ranking of MBA programs

The Aspen Institute's -(Centre for Business Education) Beyond Grey Pinstripes is a biennial survey and ranking of business schools.

Their mission is to spotlight innovative full-time MBA programs that are integrating issues of social and environmental stewardship into curricula and research.

2007-2008 Beyond Grey Pinstripes Top Global 100 (see bschool profiles in the US and Europe rankings below)

1. Stanford University
2. The University of Michigan
3. York University
4. University of California, Berkeley
5. University of Notre Dame
6. Columbia University
7. Cornell University
8. Duquesne University
9. Yale University
10. Instituto de Empresa
11. New York University
12. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
13. The George Washington University
14. ESADE Business School
15. Erasmus University Rotterdam

 

Rank-	European Schools
1	Instituto de Empresa
2	ESADE Business School
3	Erasmus University Rotterdam
4	The University of Nottingham
5	University of Jyväskylä
6	Copenhagen Business School
7	INSEAD
8	IMD - International Institute for Management Development
9	Cranfield School of Management
10	University of Bath

 

Rank-	United States Schools
1	Stanford University
2	The University of Michigan
3	University of California, Berkeley
4	University of Notre Dame
5	Columbia University
6	Cornell University
7	Duquesne University
8	Yale University
9	New York University
10	The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Some of the findings of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, while elaborating the ranking:

•    The percentage of schools surveyed that require students to take a course dedicated to business and society issues has increased dramatically over time, from 34% in 2001 to 63% in 2007.
•    Since the last survey in 2005, the number of elective courses per school dedicated to social/environmental content has increased 20%.
•    The proportion of schools offering general social and environmental content in required core courses has increased in most business disciplines—Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management, Marketing, Strategy—since the 2005 survey.
•    However, the proportion of schools requiring content in core courses on how mainstream business can address social or environmental issues remains low.
•    Of the 112 schools that responded to the survey this year, 35 offer a special concentration or major that allows MBAs to focus on social and environmental issues inherent in mainstream, for-profit business.
•    Change is still occurring slowly when it comes to published academic research on social or environmental topics. In the 1999-2000 survey, even top schools had as few as three to four published research articles on these concerns across the entire faculty.  In the 2007-2008 survey, only 5% of the faculty at the surveyed business schools published research that examined important social or environmental impact or business opportunities.

Comments

[Linda M. Lopeke]

It's interesting someone is measuring the integration of social and environmental stewardship. What might have a greater impact is measuring which schools propose to educate tomorrow's leaders and entrepreneurs and value innovation yet show little evidence of serving as role models for same themselves.

Case in point: I have been running a mentoring program and MBA Master Classes in corporate social intelligence primarily attended by GEN Y students for the last 3 years. The students and I have created an interesting financial model that supports providing a steady stream of funding to their business schools. (It also allows them to continuously donate financial aid to their schools more generously than otherwise while at the same time helping themselves become well positioned and successful in their careers following graduation.)

They've brought their funding proposal forward to a number of schools/Deans now. They've put all the parts in place to make it work starting from having all their operating costs covered by American & Canadian corporations and going right down to the very communication to be sent in an email to let fellow students know of the existence of this program.

(Translation: The program requires no budget or headcount from a school to run. The students do all the work required to support the program. All they need is for a few Deans to support them by sending out the intro email to the school registrants and alumni.)

Thus far several Deans and Career Centre Directors have agreed its a great mentoring and philanthropy program and a highly innovative delivery model; they acknowledge it would be very beneficial to both undergrads and grads (alumni) to participate in the program. However, the most common response offered to justify not letting their student populations know about the mentoring program is "we just don't want to be leaders here". Shocking, isn't it?

Here's the message those Deans are sending to GEN Y: we say we want your financial support and the support of the business community but we don't really mean it so don't take us seriously. And guess what? They're not.

How much money were they willing to donate? $50M was their goal. And they still plan to give it away. IF they can find a few strong Deans that share their leadership vision. IF not, well -- fortunately, there are a lot of other people in the world who would appreciate their financial help.