"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." —Wiliam Butler Yeats, Poet

THE GOOD NEWS about business school trends in the US and around the globe is that there finally is a trend to include social and environmental programs. Up until a few short years ago, five to be exact, many business schools were eliminating ethics courses as unnecessary costs and "business & society" courses were non-existent. After Enron, WorldCom, and the entire span of business ethics debacles in the first few years of the new century, ethics courses quickly emerged in the core curriculum. Yet beyond ordinary ethics courses, B-schools are focusing on social enterprise, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability. Several schools offer MBAs in sustainable business and social enterprise.

THE ASPEN INSTITUTE

The Aspen Institute published the results of a 2007 study on trends in the top Global 100 B-schools in “Beyond Grey Pinstripes.” The study shows the number of elective courses featuring social/environment content increased 50% from 2005 to 2007. The percentage of schools that required "society and business" courses for students increased from 34% in 2001 to 63% in 2007. Most B-schools are incorporating business and society issues into the core curriculum. The United States headed the top 100 list with 8 schools in the top 10. Aside from the U.S., B-schools in Spain, United Kingdom, and Canada dominated the list. Other B-schools named in the Global 100 came from the Netherlands, France, Finland, Mexico, Switzerland, Philippines, Denmark, Venezuela, South Africa, Singapore, Colombia, and Australia. Of the Global 100, thirty-five (35) schools offer a special concentration or major that focuses on environmental or social issues in business. All these changes have occurred since 2004. Now that’s a trend!