The Aspen Institute releases its ranking of MBA programs that integrate sustainability and social responsibility. By Tracey de Morsella

The Aspen Institute recently released the 2009-2010 edition of Beyond Grey Pinstripes, a biennial survey and popular alternative ranking of full-time MBA programs that integrate sustainability and social responsibility into the curriculum. This year, 149 business schools from 24 countries participated in the survey, up from 111 schools in 18 countries. Beyond Grey Pinstripes is one of the few MBA rankings that look beyond reputation and test scores to measure how well schools are preparing their students for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day business.

School highlights from this Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey cycle are featured in a new guidebook for prospective MBA students, titled The Sustainable MBA: The 2010-2011 Guide to Business Schools That are Making a Difference The Top Schools Integrating Sustainability and CSR into MBA Programs Ranked by The Aspen Institute. The guide Providing highlights on over 150 MBA programs located in 20 plus countries-including course offerings, activities, clubs, joint degrees, and career resources-this book is a must-have for any prospective business student interested in creating positive change in the world.

For the first time, the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, Canada, ranked first in the survey, getting high marks for the extraordinary number of courses available to students that contain environmental, social and ethical content as well as for the number of relevant scholarly articles being published by the School's faculty members.

The Top 20 Schools Globally

1. York (Schulich)2. U. of Michigan (Ross)3. Yale School of Management4. Stanford Graduate School of Business5. Notre Dame (Mendoza)6. UC Berkeley (Haas)7. RSM Erasmus8. NYU (Stern)9. IE Business School10. Columbia Business School11. U. of Virginia (Darden)12. Cornell (Johnson)13. GWU School of Business14. U. of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler)15. Simmons School of Management16. Duke (Fuqua)17. Wisconsin School of Business18. Duquesne (Donahue)19. U. of New Mexico (Anderson)20. U. of Denver (Daniels)

The best MBA students move quickly into the front ranks of business-and the attitudes and values they bring to the table are deeply influenced by their time in business education, said Judith Samuelson, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program. Will they accept the status quo or act on their passion about the positive role business can play at the intersection of corporate profit and social impact? The schools that are competitive in the Beyond Grey Pinstripes ranking are the real trailblazers-they assure that students have the right skill as well as the will to make things happen.

In these challenging economic times, the general public, not just scholars, are questioning whether the established models of business are broken, said Rich Leimsider, Director of the Aspen Institute's Center for Business Education. Beyond Grey Pinstripes schools are thoughtfully pursuing new approaches. They are preparing students who take a more holistic view of business success, one that measures financial results as well as social and environmental impacts.

As sustainability gains traction around globe, in society at large, well as in the business community, the demand for courses and programs focused on sustainability and social responsibility has increased dramatically; and business schools are stepping up to the plate. The percentage of schools surveyed that require students to take a course dedicated to business and society issues has increased dramatically over time. In 2001, 34% had the requirement. Now, 69% require students to take a course dedicated to business and society issues. Since 2007, the number of elective courses offered per school that contain some degree of social, environmental or ethical content has increased by 12%, from approximately 16.6 to 18.6 electives.The proportion of schools offering general social, environmental or ethical content in required core courses has increased in many business disciplines-Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management, Marketing, Operations Management-since the last survey in 2007.

However, the percentage of schools requiring content in a core course on how mainstream business can act as an engine for social or environmental change remains low, at 30%. Only approximately 7% of faculty at the surveyed business schools published scholarly articles in peer-reviewed, business journals that address social, environmental or ethical issues.

Relevant data collected in the survey, as well as the entire Global 100 list of business schools, is available at: www.BeyondGreyPinstripes.org.

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