The 2022 Positive Impact Rating: ‘Student Voice Has Become A True Source Of Value’

PIR SPURS IMMEDIATE CHANGE AT ONE FRENCH B-SCHOOL 

The purpose of the PIR is to “enable learning at and across schools rather than creating a competitive ranking,” the report reads. “A rating offers the safety of groups rather than individual ranks and intends to foster collaboration.”

Among the advanced group of Transforming Schools, Audencia Business School in France earned special attention for its innovations in allowing students to become “change agents,” recognition reflected in the school’s higher score from 2021. “As part of the continuous improvement cycle, the school’s Corporate Social Responsibility Team and the students’ associations cooperate closely to use the results of the previous Positive Impact Rating edition to identify areas of progress and build a concrete action plan,” the report reads. Audencia’s action plan emphasizes the students’ role and involvement in its realization and communicates the results of this plan to the whole community of students.

“The school’s position in this ranking is further proof of our historical commitment to CSR,” Audencia’s Dean Christophe Germain says in a news release recognizing the 2022 PIR. “The increase in our overall score reflects the strengthening of this commitment around which our ECOS 2025 strategic plan is built and our desire to train students who will have a positive impact on society in their future career.”

‘WE NEED TO PREPARE STUDENTS WITH COMPETENCIES THAT EMPOWER THEM’

Among the loads of interesting data points in the latest PIR report are significant demographic distinctions. Men rate schools higher than women do. Master’s students rate schools higher than bachelor’s students. International students rate them higher than national students do. Older students rate them higher than younger students do.

Ratings are highest, meanwhile, among students who have spent only one year, and lowest among those who have spent three or more years in business school.

More important than demographic tidbits: the goal of the PIR, says Antonio Hautle, executive director of the UN Global Compact Network Switzerland & Liechtenstein. The United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) influenced the foundations of the PIR model.

“Over three editions, the PIR continues to bring business schools and students together in cooperation for responsible management education, aligning with and supporting the UN Global Compact and PRME principles,” Hautle says.

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