The professorship integrates ESD, Education for Sustainable Development, actively in research and teaching.

Sustainability-oriented skills include higher education, education-related, professional, social, private, entrepreneurial and governmental activities. Skills training for the realisation of sustainability are actively integrated into the research and education process in order to implement Education for Sustainable Development. The professorship actively promotes the United Nations (UN)-supported initiative Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) with its six principles purpose, value, method, research, partnership and dialogue.

Principle 1 | Purpose: We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.

Principle 2 | Values: We will incorporate into our academic activities, curricula, and organisational practices the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.

Principle 3 | Method: We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable  effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.

Principle 4 | Research: We will engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our understanding about the role, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value.

Principle 5 | Partnership: We will interact with managers of business corporations to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges.

Principle 6 | Dialogue: We will facilitate and support dialog and debate among educators, students, business, government, consumers, media, civil society organisations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability.

Our lectures address the Key competencies for sustainability

• Systems thinking competency: the abilities to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty.
• Anticipatory competency: the abilities to understand and evaluate multiple futures – possible, probable and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes.
• Normative competency: the abilities to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate sustainability values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interests and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions.
• Strategic competency: the abilities to collectively develop and implement innovative actions that further sustainability at the local level and further afield.
• Collaboration competency: the abilities to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving.
• Critical thinking competency: the ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on own one’s values, perceptions and actions; and to take a position in the sustainability discourse.
• Self-awareness competency: the ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires.
• Integrated problem-solving competency: the overarching ability to apply different problem-solving frameworks to complex sustainability problems and develop viable, inclusive and equitable solution options that promote sustainable development, integrating the above-mentioned competences.

The lectures and courses offered are integrated in the following programmes:

Bachelor

Wirtschaftswissenschaften (B.Sc.)

Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen (B.Sc.)

Master

Management & Organisation Studies (M.Sc.)

Merge Technologies for Resource Efficiency (M.Sc.)

Nachhaltige Energieversorgungstechnologien (M.Sc.)

Rechnungslegung und Unternehmenssteuerung (M.Sc.)

Value Chain Management (M.Sc.)

Wirtschaftsingenieurwesen (M.Sc.)

Wirtschaftswissenschaften für Juristen (M.Sc.)

In agreement with the board of examiners the offered courses can be accepted within further programmes.