Relevance of climate change for business educators examined during forum

Up-to-date views on the seriousness and relevance of climate change and sustainability to business educators will be scrutinised during a Sustainability Forum. The forum presented by the Graduate School of Business will be held on Friday 5 October at Caulfield Campus, commencing at 10 am.

The Sustainability Forum will explore a range of perspectives on the 'bigger picture' of climate change and sustainability.

It will include a scientific perspective provided by research leaders from the Monash Sustainability Institute as well as community views by a leading market research consultancy which completed a recent study in this area.

There will also be an industry view by a leading sustainability management consultant as well as regulatory developments and policy response strategies from key government agencies.

An afternoon forum from 2:30 to 5pm will focus on Education Managers for Sustainability. For too long management schools have focused on teaching a narrow set of enterprise skills directed at profit maximisation.

With increasing community unrest about resource constraints and ecological degradation, there is now a growing imperative for management schools to adopt a more integrated approach which elevates social and ecological considerations into every day business management decisions, as well as recognising the compelling business case for sustainability.

The international community has recognised an important role for educators through the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in 2005. Many universities have committed to the 1990 Talloire Declaration and in July 2007 the United Nations Global Compact released its Principles for Responsible Management Education. All of these developments reinforce the need for management educators to take the initiative in reforming their programs in accordance with these new guidelines.

To promote these objectives, the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management and the faculty are offering this regional seminar to bring together a range of views and opinions from academia and industry that will facilitate the challenging task of implementing education for sustainability within business and management schools.

For more information please contact Bridget James on 9903 1313 or bridget.james@adm.monash.edu.au