LUT Business School's most recent Sharing Information on Progress (SIP) report received an award in the annual Global Forum of the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative in June. The award was in the category Emerging Reports, which is for institutions that have published two to four reports.
The PRME SIP Awards honour transparent and clear reporting that inspires other members of the community to report on their own work to promote the PRME's seven principles. LUT Business School's SIP report also received an award in 2022.
“The second consecutive award shows that our reporting is consistently exemplary. PRME has signatory members from roughly 850 countries, and members submit reports at least every other year. The winners are selected from hundreds of reports,” explains Assistant Professor Laura Olkkonen, LUT Business School's PRME coordinator.
The winner is selected by a peer review committee that consists of experts who are conducting the same type of reporting at their own university and of other members, such as students.
“To convince this knowledgeable jury, the report must dig deep below the surface.”
The jury felt that LUT’s report “had an easy-to-follow structure approach and provided detailed evidence of integration into curricula, research impact as well as strategies for future improvement.”
Did you know?
Award-winning reports must, in addition to the required basic contents, include especially commendable descriptions of the goals of the institution's responsibility and sustainability efforts, how their achievement is assessed, what new goals are set and how they will be pursued. Winning reports must present sustainability goals and actions in a very concrete and transparent way.
PRME’s release gives a general overview of the criteria: 10 Years of SIP Awards - 2024 Recognition for Excellence in… | UNPRME.
Student interest in sustainability is on the rise
LUT Business School is committed to the PRME initiative, which engages business and management schools to ensure they nurture internationally recognised sustainable values in education and research.
“The most important achievement during our reporting period was the positive measurement outcome of our new sustainability-related learning goal. Depending on the degree programme, 83–100 per cent of our students achieved that goal, which we will keep monitoring as part of our AACSB accreditation work”, Olkkonen relates.
LUT Business School has also inspired students to tackle responsibility- and sustainability-related issues – their share of thesis topics is on the upswing.
”In addition, we strengthened the responsibility and sustainability themes in our doctoral programme and are preparing a new sustainability-related bachelor’s programme. In other words, we are continuing to incorporate sustainability and responsibility into everything we do. Also, we expanded our research by tackling new sustainability and responsibility topics.”
“Responsibility and sustainability are present throughout the business school's different disciplines.”
What is PRME?
- Established by the United Nations (UN) in 2007.
- A global forum for raising the profile of sustainability in business schools worldwide.
- Voluntary initiative.
- LUT Business School involved since 2015, has published four SIP reports.
- Over 850 signatories worldwide.
- LUT focuses on all seven key principles: purpose, values, teach, research, partner, practice, and share.
- Taken into account in LUT-level sustainability reporting.
Involved in LUT level sustainability reporting
The PRME reporting format is changing, and the most recent award is the final one of its kind. Next year, LUT Business School will submit its report by filling out an online form.
“This will not change what we do. Sustainability is a dimension that will remain present in our daily teaching, research, and interaction – like it has been so far.”
According to Olkkonen, LUT Business School is seeking new ways to showcase its most important sustainability and responsibility goals and related concrete actions.
”At the LUT level, annual sustainability reporting will continue, and we are still involved in that.”
LUT Business School’s award-winning PRME SIP report was compiled by Marketing Communications Specialist Saara Larkio and Laura Olkkonen. The layout of the report was done by LUT’s Graphic Designer Mirkka Vaherkylä.
Read previous PRME SIP reports here.
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