B-Schools Ranked on Social Studies

More business schools are now offering courses in ethics, corporate social responsibility, or environmental sustainability than in 2003, according to "Beyond Grey Pinstripes", a biennial report released jointly by World Resources Institute and the Aspen Institute on Oct. 19. Of the 91 business schools surveyed on six continents, 54% require a course in ethics, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, or business and society, up from 45% in 2003 and 34% in 2001.

As part of the study, the organizations rank B-schools based on how well they integrate social and environmental issues into their curriculum and research. The ranking weighs a school's commitment in four categories, including the number of courses offered, the enrollment for those courses, the quality of the content, and the depth and breadth of faculty research. Nearly 600 MBA programs participated by responding to a survey, and 1,842 courses and 828 journal articles from leading peer-reviewed business publications were analyzed to determine the top 30 schools.

The top 10 programs as ranked by "Beyond Grey Pinstripes" are:

1. Stanford University Graduate School of Business, U.S.
2. ESADE Business School, Spain
3. York University Schulich School of Business, Canada
4. ITESM (EGADE) Graduate School of Business, Mexico
5. University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business, U.S.
6. The George Washington University School of Business, U.S.
7. The Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, U.S.
8. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School, U.S.
9. Cornell University S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, U.S.
10. Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management, U.S.

Although the business schools surveyed are making important progress, the report's authors note that teaching and research on these topics are still limited and not widespread. Only 4% of faculty at the surveyed schools published research on related issues in top, peer-reviewed journals during the survey period, says Mark Milstein, business research director for the World Resources Institute's Sustainable Enterprise Program.

Experts say student interest in social and environmental issues is rising (see BW Online Video, 10/25/05, "Global Biz", an interview with Cornell Professor Stuart Hart). "[Students] are looking for the opportunity to dive deeper into these subjects," says Judith Samuelson, executive director of the Business & Society Program at the Aspen Institute. "They want to know how sustainability can be applied to [other subjects] -- and how they can bring their values into the workplace," adds Samuelson.

This most recent report showed that foreign schools are taking more interest in social and environmental issues as well. Three of the top-five ranked schools, and 12 of the top 30, are located outside the U.S., which is a change from past surveys. "It means that the U.S. doesn't monopolize the intellectual space, that the issue of sustainability in business is a salient topic in many other countries, particularly in Europe," says Milstein. Protecting the planet is becoming good business, no matter where on earth you attend school.

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New Internet-Based TOEFL

The new Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language was delivered for the first time on Sept. 24 to about 2,000 test takers in the U.S. Over 15 years in development, the new format addresses the desire on the part of universities for more information on candidates coming from overseas. "This helps to prove to the candidates and the universities that they'll be able to communicate when they get here," says Gena Netten, TOEFL marketing manager for the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the nonprofit institution charged with designing the test. "The new test reflects the real world -- what students need to do to communicate in it," adds Netten.

The Internet-based TOEFL adds an important new dimension: speaking. And rather than treating the English communication process as consisting of separate tasks, the new test integrates reading, listening, speaking, and writing. "We now have added a different type of task, where test takers will read a passage, hear a short lecture on the same topic, then speak or write a response," says Netten.

In 2004, about 720,000 people took the TOEFL, which is used as admissions criteria at about 5,200 institutions in more than 90 countries. The testing fee in 2005 will be $140. Communicating in the international language of business: priceless.

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