Sustainability in Education
One of our strategic objectives is to have a pedagogy that supports fostering responsible and well-balanced professionals who drive a sustainable future for Finland and the world. This is a shared responsibility between faculty and staff, as well as the students who take responsibility for their own learning journeys.
We align with the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) to develop professionals who drive inclusive prosperity while promoting just transitions within regenerative and resilient natural ecosystems. We will also align all our Bachelor’s and Master’s Programmes with the European sustainability competence framework (GreenComp). You can read more about the sustainability competences here.
Bachelor studies
The learning outcomes for bachelor studies state that graduates should be able to:
- Describe personal values in relation to sustainability values that support just transitions within regenerative and resilient natural ecosystems.
- Describe sustainability as context-specific interaction(s) of economic, ecological, social, and cultural elements.
- Explore alternative scenarios for sustainable futures that are grounded in science, creativity, and sustainability values.
- Recognise relevant economic, social, political, and cultural stakeholders and their role in addressing sustainability challenges.
In our bachelor programmes, there is a mandatory 6 ECTS basic course Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility (1140) for students in the Swedish bachelor programme, and Global Sustainability (1144) for students in the English bachelor programme, these are recommended to be completed in the first year of the Bachelor studies. The courses introduce key concepts and perspectives that describe the challenges, opportunities, and risks that companies face regarding their social and environmental responsibility, and how these are linked to financial responsibility.
Hanken offers a wide variety of courses with foci on sustainability and corporate responsibility across all subjects and independent of their major subject. Bachelor students can also choose a specialized minor subject, Corporate Responsibility
Master studies
The learning outcomes for master studies state that graduates should be able to:
- Critically reflect on how personal values can support just transitions within regenerative and resilient natural ecosystems.
- Assess interactions between economic, ecological, social, and cultural aspects of sustainability challenges in specific contexts.
- Evaluate alternative scenarios for sustainable futures and their opportunities, trade-offs, limitations, and risks.
- Develop collaborative engagement with relevant economic, social, political, and cultural stakeholders to address sustainability challenges.
All master’s students at Hanken are required to take a mandatory 3 ECTS course in social responsibility. The course is titled Social Responsibility across Business Studies (9996) and is a part of the mandatory 5 ECTS Global Competency module. The course provides master’s students an introduction to key concepts and perspectives that describe the challenges, opportunities and risks that organisations and more broadly societies, face regarding social and environmental responsibilities. Also, students learn about perspectives on social responsibility from many subjects at Hanken and are familiarised with the SDGs.
Master students can also choose a specialized minor subject, Corporate Responsibility.
Master's degree studies with sustainability theme
Doctoral studies
Hanken provides access to a wide range of doctoral courses, seminars, and workshops on topics related to sustainability. Doctoral students are also offered a course in research ethics - a topic that is extremely important at Hanken and a part of our research strategy.
Executive MBA
The learning objectives state that EMBA graduates are responsible leaders in a global context.
- EMBA graduates address CSR dilemmas
- EMBA graduates apply business knowledge in an international setting
Sustainable Business in a Global Context is one of four themes in the curriculum of the triple crown accredited Hanken Executive MBA programme.
Sustainability appears also within the other themes: Strategic Leadership, Service Business and Innovation, Finance and Controlling.
In total, Hanken EMBA includes several mandatory courses related to sustainability:
- Sustainable business models
- Corporate responsibility and Stakeholder Engagement
- Sustainable supply chain management
- Sustainability reporting (ESG & financial)
- Sustainable Innovation
- Business ethics
Lifelong learning
Take courses in sustainability and CSR at Hanken! We have several MOOCs (massive open online courses), study modules and courses on sustainability and CSR topics that are open to the public.
