Education for Sustainable Development: Trends in Indian Business Schools and Universities in a Post Liberalization Era

Abstract

Business schools and management education institutions across the world have traditionally focused on standard elements of corporate governance. In a globalized world, management education has seen rapid strides in adopting new and innovative curriculum design in line with the some of the important trends and advances in development. In recent years, environment and sustainability have caught the attention of various sections of society as critical issues threatening the very fabric of global business and polity. The 2002 Earth Summit clearly laid down the path of future sustainable development recommending among other issues the internationalization of educational systems at all levels of learning. The chapter focuses on exploring recent developments in sustainability education in some of the important Indian Business schools and Universities with implications for corporate business action. Recent economic and regulatory pressures, social inequities coupled with changes in energy sector, environmental protection, and sustainability have had a significant effect on Indian businesses necessitating the need for skilled professionals to deal with complex regulatory and policy issues in the future. The chapter analyzes and discusses the potential of Indian universities and B schools in evolving triple bottom line concept-based curricula in emerging areas like sustainable energy development, global carbon markets, renewable energy financing, ethics and corporate governance, sustainability reporting, voluntary disclosures, social reengineering, etc.