Team from University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand, wins the PRME LEADERS+20 competition

(Aarhus/New York, 7 May 2012) - Two students and their lecturer have won a trip to the UN Rio+20 Conference for Sustainable Development. They will present their project about how universities and business schools can create future leaders of a sustainable world.

"How do we develop a new generation of leaders who can handle great, societal challenges such as an increasing world population, climate changes, and scarcity of water, food and energy?" This was the challenge of the PRME LEADERS+20 competition, introduced by the UN-backed Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) and Aarhus University, Denmark.

The global challenge was presented this spring to more than 100,000 students and their lecturers at universities and business schools worldwide. The aim of the competition was to encourage the teams present their ideas for how sustainability and accountability can be integrated into management-related education.

The Award Committee made up by representatives from leading sustainable companies, including Novozymes, Maersk and Vestas, NGOs from Africa and the Middle-East, the UN, and Aarhus University selected the winning teams to receive the 1st and 2nd prize.

The winners of the 1st prize - the Rio Experience - are Dr. Ross McDonald and students Sian Coleman and Dan Cullum from Team Huia representing University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand. For their innovative entry: Managing Change for a Better World, the team has been awarded a trip to Rio de Janeiro in June along with an invitation to present their idea to rectors and deans, international companies and the UN at the 3rd Global Forum for Responsible Management Education of the PRME initiative and the Rio+20 Corporate Sustainability Forum in conjunction with Rio+20.

The winners of the 2nd prize – the Danish Experience – are Dr. Leo Wong and students Caitlin Farrell, Rory Kirkpatrick, Cam McCoy, William Pasieka, and Dan Scott from Team PRME Rio+20 MacEwan representing MacEwan University, School of Business, Canada. For their inspiring entry: Introduction to Sustainable Business, the team has been awarded funding for scholarships for courses in sustainability and management at Aarhus Summer University along with a State of Green tour to some of the leading companies, politicians or industry experts in Denmark within the field of energy, climate and environment , offering the winners the opportunity to experience Danish solutions live and get a first-hand account of the lessons learned by Danish companies and institutions in terms of finding solutions to the challenges of both industry and society.

“We are very impressed by the quality and creativity of the many entries from universities and business schools from all over the world. Given the high quality of all entries it was a difficult choice for the jury to pick the winners”, says Jonas Haertle, Head of the PRME Secretariat at the UN Global Compact Office, “the collaboration between faculty members and students in redesigning their management courses is a great example of how business schools can rethink their course offerings based on their commitment to the Principles for Responsible Management Education.”

Dean Svend Hylleberg of Aarhus University, Business and Social Sciences finds it important that the students and future leaders of this project will get a voice at Rio+20: “The Rio+20 conference will set the agenda for a sustainable future and as such for the lives of our students. I am proud that we, with this competition, show that the students are concerned about the challenges of society and are ready to contribute with creative solutions. Let us listen to them.”

For further information and to view all videos of the competition, please go to: www.prme-leaders20.au.dk.

Contacts

Jonas Haertle
Head
PRME Secretariat, UN Global Compact Office
+1-212 907 1376
haertle@un.org

Pernille Kallehave
Head of Development, Sustainability
Aarhus University, Business and Social Sciences
+45 21 60 56 59
peka@asb.dk