At the foundation of the Antwerp Management School (AMS) lies state-of-the-art management knowledge anchored in a business and organisational context. It is our goal to prepare future managers for key roles in the global business community and to promote responsible management, entrepreneurship, sustainability, leadership and professionalism. Building on this foundation, AMS distinguishes three central pillars: Self-knowledge, which leads to better cooperation with others, global perspective, which leads to ingenuity and social awareness, which helps develop a sustainable society.
Our implementation of the Principles for Responsible Management Education
To further anchor our mission, AMS has underwritten the basic principles of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and has joined the United Nations Global Compact. These decisions are all drivers to further integrate sustainability in our curricula, research and other activities. We combined an obligatory and a voluntary approach with regard to the sustainability content of courses, and we introduced with the aim of developing responsible management education (read the full PRME report).
On the topic of leadership and career, all our students embark on an intensive Leadership Development and Career Track (LDCT). Since leadership is also a collective process, there is a dual focus on personal development and development in a group context. Another important part of the LDCT curriculum is social consciousness and showing leadership in support of a community project. All students and participants of the Master Programs are therefore required to work on a community project throughout the year. Students at AMS learn to assist companies and organisations in reviewing their current strategies and developing new opportunities and solutions. Working on business challenges is part of the students’ overall assignment and as we continue our efforts, we strive for an increase in sustainability-related consultancy projects.
In addition to the students, the school itself also participates in social projects, for instance by establishing The Antwerp Management School Fund for Sustainable and Innovative Entrepreneurship. Managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, the Fund encourages the development, coaching and education of students and young entrepreneurs from developing countries. Another social project organised by the AMS together with the Public Centre for Social Welfare (OCMW) (a locally based welfare organization) was the Education for Life initiative, which supported children in need in the Antwerp region. A number of changes are on the horizon with regard to campus management. We are currently leasing a building from the University of Antwerp, but will be moving to a different building owned by the Public Centre for Social Welfare. While we work hard to integrate sustainability into our campus management, we are aware that there is still room for improvement in terms of environmental efforts.
As it has become nearly impossible for one person to possess all the knowledge necessary to meet the challenges that face both organisations and society as a whole, we have created a network with various partners. This active cooperation leads to a collaborative model that adds to the total body of knowledge for all parties involved. An example of such cooperative projects is The Future Leadership Initiative that carries out research and supports leadership development initiatives with KBC as a foundation partner and Cronos as a knowledge partner.
Creating partnerships and engaging in a dialogue with a variety of stakeholders is of great importance to us. Two of the flagship initiatives that have seen the greatest progress in terms of sustainability are the BASF Deloitte Elia Chair on Sustainability, which aims to inspire embedded Corporate Responsibility policies throughout the value chain in every industry, and the AMS alumni organisation, which is dedicated to bringing the three pillars of the school’s mission into practice.
In the future, it is our ambition to consolidate our spectrum of initiatives and guiding principles into a comprehensive strategy and we will continue to use the Sustainable Development Goals as a fundamental part of our core business strategy for education and research.
