The PIR positions UPF-BSM among worldwide higher education institutions that show a culture focused towards positive impact on society
The result was announced within the framework of the United Nations PRME Global Forum 2022 for Responsible Management Education
The UPF Barcelona School of Management (UPF-BSM) has been recognized for the second consecutive year as a "transforming school", one of the categories awarded by the Positive Impact Rating (PIR). The result was announced within the framework of the United Nations PRME Global Forum 2022 for Responsible Management Education, and positions the School among worldwide higher education institutions that show a "culture focused towards positive impact on society, integrated into their governance model, their systems, and their culture, with visible results in various dimensions of high impact".
The Positive Impact Rating (PIR) is the international benchmark for assessing the social impact of the world's leading business schools based on an assessment made by its own students. Thus, the rating seeks to contribute, as a lever for change, to the transformation of the higher education market and of the business schools themselves thanks to the voice of their main protagonists: the students.
In the case of UPF-BSM, the social impact evaluated is organized through academic and institutional initiatives drawn up as international centres of excellence in research. This is the case for the Agbar Chair of International Studies in Institutional Communication for Development and Sustainable Growth; the International Chair in Sustainable Finance with Triodos Bank; the Chair in Dignified and Sustainable Housing with the Metropolitan House Foundation, or the Mercadona Chair of Circular Economy, which seeks to provide the necessary knowledge to transform their respective areas of action with regard to sustainability. Also the Sustainability Observatory, which is dedicated to the study, reflection, and transfer knowledge in the field of sustainability of the business sector.
In addition, within its commitment to the transformation of society through its students, the School includes in its portfolio programs such as the Master of Science in Sustainability Management, which offers the keys to putting sustainability at the core of any business or institutional strategy.
All this makes sense within the Planetary Well-being project of the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), which has as its main aim contributing to the knowledge and understanding of the set of complex, interrelated, and systemic problems facing human, animal, and planetary well-being, as a global ecosystem, and the identification of integrated, innovative, and interdisciplinary solutions to these problems.
UPF-BSM's mission is to promote social transformation and global well-being. Sustainability is already in our DNA
The Director General of the UPF Barcelona School of Management, Jose M. Martinez-Sierra, has very positively valued the results, which represent another milestone in the transformation process in which the School is immersed after being recognized with AMBA and EQUIS accreditations. "The recognition of the Positive Impact Rating helps us to continue promoting the mission that we have set ourselves as an institution, that of preparing leaders capable of managing companies, institutions and projects that encourage innovation, social transformation, and global well-being. We can say that sustainability is already in our DNA, and that is why this recognition is another step on our way to becoming a World Class School of Management", has said.
According to Vanessa Alves, a student of the Postgraduate Diploma in Coaching by UPF-BSM and coordinator of the students who participated in the evaluation, "we are immersed in a period of important changes in all strata of society, which generate a greater social, economic, and ecological awareness in all of us. In this regard, business schools play a fundamental role in the formation of future leaders so that they take sustainability into account in their decision-making". "Tools such as the PIR are fundamental to evaluating business schools from the perspective of the positive impact they are able to generate in society" she expressed, adding: "My experience at UPF-BSM has been very enriching in this sense, since, as a student, I can see that it is a school that firmly seeks to have that real impact on society. I am proud to be a student of this institution".
In the third Positive Impact Rating, students from business schools in 21 countries, located in all continents, participated through a survey consisting of 20 questions organized in seven dimension of impact within three main areas: Energizing (Governance and Culture), Educating (Programs, Learning Methods, Student Support), and Engaging (Institution as a Role Model, Public Engagement).
The PIR was created by business school experts along with global NGOs such as WWF and Oxfam, in addition to the United Nations Global Compact. For their part, international students associations such as Oikos, AIESEC, or Net Impact are also part of the PIR, which is supported by VIVA Idea (Costa Rica), The Institute for Business Sustainability Foundation, and Fehr Advice (both from Switzerland).
Prof. Thomas Dyllick, founder of the PIR and member of its Supervisory Board, said: "While prospective students have one more information source in the PIR for selecting the business school in which they want to study, educational institutions use it to measure and communicate their progress in the transformation processes they are undergoing. As such, the voice of students has become a real source of value for society".