An Article of interest

An interesting article appeared in the Financial Times

Business students portrayed as ethically minded in study

By Rebecca Knight in Boston

A study portrays today's business school studentsas ethically minded and concerned about issues of corporate social responsibility. The study, released yesterday, is based on research conducted by Net Impact, a group of MBA and graduate students who advocate that businesses should work for the social good. Net Impact polled 2,100 MBA students in 87 programmes in the US and Canada.

Students surveyed overwhelmingly said that they believed corporate profits and social responsibility could co-exist.

About 81 per cent of the students said companies should try to work "toward the betterment of society", while 18 per cent thought most of them were already seeking that goal.

Nearly 90 per cent said business leaders should factor social and environmental effects into their business decisions, with 60 per cent saying such an approach could be profitable.

In the aftermath of scandals at Enron and WorldCom, many US business schools have placed a greater emphasis on ethics courses in their programmes of study.

According to the survey, about 78 per cent of MBA students believed classes in corporate social responsib-ility should be part ofthe core curriculum in MBA programmes.

The survey, which was presented at a business school forum at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, also found that MBA students were interested in working in socially responsible jobs.

Nearly 80 per cent ofstudents polled wanted to find socially responsible employment at some point in their careers, according to the survey, while 59 per cent said they would seek such work immediately after graduating from business school.

The survey comes only a month after a separate study published by Duke University's centre for academic integrity found that 56 per cent of MBA students admitted cheating, compared with 47 per cent of graduate students in non-business programmes.

Business schools are highly competitive and have been criticised for fostering a "culture of greed" in MBA programmes.

Best regards,

Aziz