BRINGING SUSTAINABILITY INTO FOCUS Nyenrode Business University’s Nicolas Chevrollier walks us through the process of embedding sustainability into every module of the institution’s MBA programme, as part of its plan to redefine the essence of business education and “teach the future” T o address pressing sustainability issues, we must be
Secondly, we wanted to make the most of Nyenrode’s expertise. We are an organisation focused on sustainability and we want our programmes to reflect this. For this reason, we recently updated our school’s mission from ‘Shaping responsible leaders’ to ‘Shaping responsible leaders for a sustainable world’ to reinforce our commitment to sustainability and the broader environmental, social and governance agenda. In working towards integrating sustainability into our ethos and curriculum, we needed our MBA programme to be aligned with that vision. In the end, it was a combination of external developments, internal expertise and a broader organisational strategy that drove the development of the Impact MBA. By embedding sustainability across all modules, we hope to ensure that students are equipped to meet one of the most important challenges businesses will face in the future. A multi-level approach Once we’d made the decision to create an MBA focused on sustainability, we had to consider the practicalities involved in substantially redesigning the curriculum. First, we first looked at our other programmes and considered what type of sustainability concepts and notions we wanted participants to come away with in the Impact MBA. Our conclusion was to take a multi-level approach, in which students would study sustainability from four angles: • Landscape level : the major societal trends that are pushing businesses towards sustainability • Sector level: how specific industries are being impacted by these trends, in relation to their supply chains and new regulations, as well as how these sectors could change • Organisational level: the need for businesses to adapt their strategies and business models • Individual level: the transition in management, in response to the need for change in beliefs and leadership styles
future‑focused and shape responsible leaders who can drive systemic change. The only way business schools can do this is by offering students a transformative educational experience that prepares them to tackle sustainability from multiple angles, ranging from individual leadership to a large-scale sector shift. When it comes to sustainability, we need to teach the future. That means looking not only at what has worked well, but also at what could work well. I believe this is a key responsibility for business schools. Sustainability as a core pillar When designing Nyenrode Business University’s Impact MBA, we set out to make sustainability part of the programme’s DNA, not just an elective. We did this by embedding sustainability into our teaching for each of the key MBA courses so that it represents a core pillar of our curriculum. We did the same with digital transformation, in light of today’s rapid technological advancements. There are so many different aspects to leadership and management, so why the focus on sustainability? There were several reasons, mixing external factors with those from within the school. To begin with, a great number of social and environmental challenges are unfolding right now. Reports, such as those produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, show that we’re not moving in the right direction. Social unrest is increasing and we cannot sustain an economy in a failing world. These trends made us realise that if we continue with business as usual, the economy as we currently know it may not exist in the future. In addition, increasing regulation around sustainability, such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, demands our attention. Businesses have come to us and expressed their need for knowledge and best practices to help manage these changes as they develop.
52 Ambition • ISSUE 2 • 2025
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