The new rating “Positive Impact Rating for Business Schools” (PIR) is a clear indication that preparing young people for a successful career has taken on a broader meaning. Business schools are now also expected to have a positive impact on the world. Given its baseline “Opening minds to impact the world”, Antwerp Management School (AMS) has already long understood this. And it is now officially confirmed by the results of PIR, which were announced today at the World Economic Forum in Davos: AMS is one of the three European business schools that are ranked as “transforming schools”.

2019 was not only the year in which young people around the world took to the streets for climate change. 2019 was also the year in which students for the first time assessed the “positive impact” of their business schools. PIR is a new ranking that goes beyond the ordinary rankings and measures societal impact. Young people not only want to get the most out of their careers in the traditional sense, they also want to make a difference in society, thereby counting on their business school to set a good example.

PIR assesses seven dimensions of impact: governance and culture, programs, learning methods, student engagement, the institution as a role model and public engagement. PIR reached out to students of the top 50 business schools in the Financial Times Masters in Management ranking and the Corporate Knights Green MBA ranking. 51 business schools participated. While no business school made level 5, nine schools are featured in level 4. These “transforming schools” show a positive impact culture that is firmly embedded in their governance and systems.

This top 9 includes business schools from all over the world, including three from Europe and one from Belgium: Antwerp Management School. The high rates of AMS come as no surprise: the mission of AMS is to shape talents into becoming “global citizens”, focusing on self-awareness, global perspective and societal consciousness. AMS achieves this every day through research and partnerships on sustainability, through its (campus) management and especially through training programs such as the interdisciplinary 'Global Leadership Skills' program (GLS). GLS is an intensive one-year trajectory that is integrated in all full-time advanced master's programs. Through GLS, students set up their own action learning project, contributing to one of the SDGs of the United Nations. In multidisciplinary project teams of various nationalities, the students not only acquire important leadership skills but also contribute to raising awareness of the SDGs both inside and outside the school.

AMS welcomes the initiative of Positive Impact Rating. Dean Steven De Haes, from the launch of PIR at the World Economic Forum in Davos: "This is the first ranking of business schools that looks beyond the classic business aspect. With AMS we want to shape the responsible leaders of the future: young people with a strong vision who want to, and can, make a positive difference in the world. The value of this holistic approach of AMS is now also recognized by the PIR results. This recognition is an honor and above all an encouragement for us to continue to create a positive impact together with our partners".

The representatives of the top 30 schools in the Positive Impact Rating 2020

More info:

The Positive Impact Rating was initiated in 2017 by a large group of academics and institutional leaders from the management education field (GRLI, PRME, HESI, GBSN) with the intention to support fundamental change in the business school sector with regards to the schools’ societal responsibility and impact.

Dedicated web section for the 2020 Report: www.PositiveImpactRating.org/PIR2020 (opens Jan 22nd 12:00)

Press contact

Anja Tys, Corporate Marketing & Communication Antwerp Management School, Phone: +32 486 494 387, anja.tys@ams.ac.be , www.antwerpmanagementschool.be