Sustainability in Higher Education - Chapter 2, Management education for sustainability

Elsevier, Sustainability in Higher Education, Chapter 2, 2015, Pages 21–49
Authors: 
C. Hesselbarth, M. Buhr, S. Schaltegger

Abstract

The increasing demand for a sustainable development of society and corporations created the new profession of sustainability managers, which has given rise to the growing importance of management education for corporate sustainability. This chapter aims to link competence requirements of sustainability managers to different formats in a blended learning concept by analyzing experiences from the Lüneburg MBA program in sustainability management. A T-matrix is proposed based on the MBA professor’s assessment of several learning formats and their potential contribution to competence development. The results highlight the strengths of particular face-to-face and online learning formats with respect to different competences of sustainability managers. In addition to the high relevance of informal learning and formats to foster subject-specific competences, the chapter also emphasizes that a mixture of learning formats, including interactive learning processes and feedback is essential for effective competence development.