Shaping the leaders who will drive sustainable business
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Every year, more than 70 million students graduate with degrees in business, management and law. Yet many enter the workforce unprepared to tackle the sustainability challenges facing today’s global economy.
As the world accelerates toward 2030, the gap between traditional business education and the skills required for responsible leadership aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has never been more urgent to close.
Why responsible management education matters
The Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), an initiative of the United Nations Global Compact, exists to bridge that gap. By embedding sustainability, ethics and social responsibility into business and management education, PRME empowers institutions to develop graduates capable of advancing both the Principles of the UN Global Compact and the SDGs.
Responsible management education (RME) is not just about adding sustainability courses— it’s about reshaping the very foundation of how future leaders think, decide and lead. When education emphasizes purpose alongside profit, it equips graduates to guide businesses toward a more sustainable and equitable global economy.
Advocating for change in business schools worldwide
At the United Nations General Assembly, PRME launched its global campaign, Shape the Students Who Shape the World, to accelerate the integration of responsible leadership into the core of business and management education. The campaign calls on business schools, faculty and students to use their influence to champion RME within their institutions and provides them with the tools to do so.
PRME developed RME Toolkits, a suite of practical resources tailored to three key audiences: students, educators and institutional leaders. These guides are designed to help reframe sustainability as a central business imperative rather than an add-on, and to demonstrate that purpose and profit go hand in hand. They equip users with actionable insights, compelling data and messaging frameworks to advocate for RME as both a moral imperative and a strategic advantage.
Complementing the Toolkits, PRME is also spotlighting authentic perspectives from students, educators, deans and business leaders across the world, who are speaking out on the importance of redefining how we teach and learn business in the 21st century.
Join the movement
Achieving the SDGs depends on business leaders who are ethical, inclusive and forward-thinking. That transformation begins in the classroom. Join us in reimagining the role of business education in creating a more just, inclusive and sustainable world.
