50+20 · Management education for the world
A shared vision for management education that serves people, society and the planet. An invitation to rethink what we teach, how we learn and the purpose of business.
The vision
50+20 asks management educators to look beyond the boundaries of the classroom and institution. Education, research and public engagement together can contribute to a world worth living in.
Help people examine their assumptions, understand their responsibilities and act with awareness of their effects on others.
Transformative and issue-centred learning · Reflective practice · Fieldwork
How does learning connect personal development with responsibility for the world?
Bring research and practice together to support organisations and leaders as they work towards stewardship.
Research in service of society · Organisational stewardship · Leadership transformation
Whose needs does our research serve, and how does it help organisations change?
Participate in public dialogue and open the institution to the communities and challenges around it.
Exchange between academia and practice · Faculty in public dialogue · Institutions as role models
How can our institution put its own values into practice and contribute to wider change?
Explore the full framework in the original Agenda and the 2013 book.
Putting the vision into practice
At the centre of 50+20 is a space for people to work on real issues together. A collaboratory brings students, educators, business leaders and people from society into shared inquiry, learning and action.
Participants explore a challenge across disciplines and perspectives, imagine possible futures and develop approaches they can try in practice. The institution becomes a convenor of change as well as a provider of education.
At Rio+20, benches made from reclaimed materials formed a learning circle: a physical expression of the invitation to reclaim management education for the world.
Read the collaboratory guides ↓Watch and reflect
The launch film brings the 50+20 vision to life through voices from around the world. Use it to open a conversation with colleagues, students or partners.
Watch on Vimeo ↗Origins and milestones
The World Business School Council for Sustainable Business (WBSCSB) and GRLI’s SB21 project were exploring the future of business schools in parallel. Together with the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), they developed a shared agenda for change.
Scholars, business and business school leaders, and people from other walks of life contributed to the vision. It emerged from questions about society, the purpose of business and the responsibility of leadership.
Why “50+20”? The name joins the more than 50 years since the management education agenda established in the 1950s with the 20 years between the 1992 Earth Summit and Rio+20.
WBSCSB’s Montreal discussions and GRLI’s work on the business school of the twenty-first century set the stage.
GRLI, WBSCSB and PRME formalise their collaboration in January.
The Agenda and short film are presented in June at the 3rd PRME Global Forum during Rio+20.
Management Education for the World is published by Edward Elgar.
Read · Share · Use
Start with the Agenda, then explore the practical guides and the book. The Agenda and collaboratory guides are free to download.
The original 2012 executive summary: the challenge, the vision and emerging approaches. Available in English, German and Spanish, with an iPad edition.
Practical guidance for convening a conversation around a shared challenge. Available in English and French.
Edward Elgar · 2013
A Vision for Business Schools Serving People and Planet
The 256-page book develops the vision and its implementation for educators, researchers, students and organisational leaders.
By Katrin Muff, Thomas Dyllick, Mark Drewell, John North, Paul Shrivastava and Jonas Haertle.
Explore or purchase from the publisher ↗A continuing influence
Positive Impact Rating identifies 50+20 as the foundation for its assessment model. It offers one example of how the vision continues to inform approaches to business school impact.
Explore PIR’s 50+20 collection ↗Includes additional films, interviews and background on the initiative.
The people behind the vision
The lead authoring group brought together Katrin Muff, Thomas Dyllick, Paul Shrivastava, Mark Drewell, John North and Jonas Haertle. The following institutions provided financial support and are recognised as official co-authors of the Agenda.
Continue the inquiry
Bring the film or Agenda into your next conversation. Choose a shared challenge, invite different perspectives and explore how education, research and engagement could contribute.