Interdisciplinary Educational Models for Creating CSR and Sustainability Culture in European Business Schools

Abstract

It is the thesis of this paper that the creation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability culture in business school education is a means of students' formation as future sustainable leaders and achievement of academic excellence. The purpose of the research is to characterize good teaching practices in CSR and sustainable development, as well as the opportunities for their improvement by applying interdisciplinary educational models, supported by EU funding programmes. The paper is conceptual and the desk research method has been used to clarify the main conceptual elements of the research. Comparative analysis has been applied to practices of creating CSR and Sustainability culture in European and US business schools, selected according to rankings of the best business schools made by Forbes, Bloomberg, Financial Times and QS Global Academic Survey. Research relevance is determined by the need to bring forward opportunities for achieving the synergy of joined application of responsible and sustainable practices in all three sectors - private, public and non-governmental - while simultaneously outline the role of universities in this process. Among the paper's major findings is the observed trend in EU's policies and funding programmes for uniting the efforts of the said three sectors'representatives in view of multiplying the effects of the application of sustainable policies in various spheres. Guidelines have been suggested for business schools' building interdisciplinary educational models, so that cooperation is developed between educational, scientific, business and public institutions seeking synergy between science, technologies, cultural and creative industries and ecology. Concrete opportunites are described for busines schools to take advantage of the new EU funding programmes for the period 2021 - 2027 in view of building a culture of CSR and sustainability.