“We want Hanken to lead the environmental and sustainability change”

This was announced 22 January at the World Economic Forum in Davos with the launch of the first edition of the Positive Impact Ratings. Moreover, Hanken is the only Finnish business school to be featured in the ratings.

Positive Impact Rating (PIR) is a new rating conducted by students and for students. It is the first time that students in 51 schools around the world have  assessedtheir business schools on how they perceive their positive impact in the world. The positive impact of business schools goes beyond their contribution to business and the economy; it addresses the need for their positive impact on society.

The impact of business schools in PIR is measured in three areas (energizing, educating, and engaging), which are further divided into seven dimensions Governance, Culture, Educational Programs, Learning methods, Student engagement, Institution as a role model and public engagement. Hanken’s Social Responsibility Coordinator, Sanchi Maheshwari has been involved in the development of the Rating Methodology along with many other stakeholders (including the ones mentioned in previous paragraph) around the world.

Hanken’s student union decided to participate in the Ratings in the late autumn last year and subsequently reached out to the students at Hanken through its various communication channels. Hanken’s average score is 7,3 with 7,7 in Energising, 7 in Educating and 7,1 in Engaging, indicating that Hanken’s governance systems and culture are well positioned to bring about positive change in society through other dimensions. Overall, Hanken is the only Finnish Business School to be featured in the ratings and has been recognised as a ‘’Progressing School’’, which falls at level 3 in the ratings, with only 9 schools at level 4 and none at level 5.

‘’Being assessed by our students as one of the leading schools in the world in positive societal impact confirms that we are doing something right and are indeed on the right path. We will be engaging with our students more in the future on these topics as it is rather clear what they want. Overall, this provides us with a great foundation to build on to further improve our societal impact’’, says Minna Martikainen, Dean of Education at Hanken, who received the recognition at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Hanken’s behalf.

Andreas Lindén, President of Hanken’s Student Union President says, ‘’We as students of Hanken want to gain education and tools that help us bring about the change in the society which we need on an urgent basis to solve the various sustainability challenges. We are very proud to be studying at Hanken which provides a good educational base for us to do that, but as always there is scope for improvement. We would also want Hanken to lead the change when it comes to its own environmental and sustainability impact. There is a long way ahead but we as students are happy to engage in this!’’

The 2020 report of PIR can be found here!

More information:

Sanchi Maheshwari
Social Responsibility Coordinator
Prme@hanken.fi
+358 50 468 7794