Poets&Quants | List Of Global B-Schools Making A Positive Impact Grows Again, Now Stands At 77

Business schools have changed a lot in the last 20 years. So have business school students.

The changes in outlook and expectation are best reflected in what the schools prioritize, and how they advertise it. Globally, no change has been more prevalent across the graduate business landscape than the embrace of sustainability and an ethos of changing the world for the better.

That is the underpinning of the Positive Impact Rating for Business Schools, which builds on “changing demands to integrate societal impact and sustainability into business schools and the education offered,” Thomas Dyllick, professor emeritus at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, wrote for Poets&Quants in 2023. The co-founder of the PIR added that “Many students care deeply about making a positive difference through their professional lives, yet they do not necessarily know how to find the right business school to get prepared. The PIR has been designed as a tool for this next generation of change agents and as a response to wide-spread demands for a positive societal impact of business schools.”

CONTINENT WITH THE HIGHEST AVERAGE SCHOOL RATING: ASIA

Thomas Dyllick: “The PIR responds to a very different vision of the business school’s purpose. Which schools are the true leaders in creating societal impact and are ready to develop students as change agents? Which schools have effective study programs in place and employ state-of-the art learning methods? Which schools effectively walk their talk in creating impact?”

The PIR’s focus, Dyllick wrote, “is on the school, not on a particular program. And its overall intention is ‘to enable business schools from becoming the best in the world, to becoming the best for the world.'” Dyllick, who serves as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Positive Impact Rating Association, and Carolin Lemke, of oikos International, announced the new PIR list at the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education Global Forum on June 18.

The societal impact levels of 77 business schools from 30 countries were included in this year’s list, up from 71 schools in 2023 and 45 schools in 2022. Students from 88 business schools located in all five continents and 30 countries participated in the survey; student responses have increased significantly since the first PIR in 2021, from 8,802 that year to 8,141 in 2022, to 12,836 in 2023, and to 15,222 responses in 2024 — a 19% increase in 2024 compared to 2023 or an overall increase of 2,386 students. Also increasing: the average number of participating students per school, which went up from 181 to 193 responses. The minimum number of respondents required for participation in the rating is 100 students per school.

The average PIR score of all rated schools in 2024 is at 7.7 on a 10-point scale. It has remained stable over the past three years, demonstrating consistent quality despite the growth in participating schools and students from 2022 to 2024. Notably, Asia achieved the highest average score among regions, with an average of 8.4, followed by North America and Southern Europe at 7.5, and Western Europe at 7.2.

“The PIR,” wrote Dyllick last year, “responds to a very different vision of the business school’s purpose. Which schools are the true leaders in creating societal impact and are ready to develop students as change agents? Which schools have effective study programs in place and employ state-of-the art learning methods? Which schools effectively walk their talk in creating impact?

“PIR assessments are determined through surveys of an often neglected but powerful group of stakeholders: the school’s own students. It is designed as a rating conducted by students and for students. Students as important current stakeholders of business schools, but more importantly, students as hugely important stakeholders of the next generation, that will inherit the world.”

HOW IT WORKS

The PIR survey asks students questions in seven “impact dimensions”: governance and culture of the school; study programs, learning methods, and student support; the institution as a role model, and its public engagement. “Learnings from this direct feedback for the schools have been considerable,” Dyllick wrote in 2023. The resulting PIR score of the business school is used to position the schools across five levels, the top three of which are publicly released: Level 5, “Pioneering” schools, are the top; this year they number six. Level 4, “Transforming” schools, number 43; and Level 3, “Progressing” schools, number 28. Business schools are also provided with a defined social impact model and a tool that they can use for measuring and benchmarking their impact.

At the end of the survey of 20 closed questions, the students are asked two open questions: “What do you want your school to STOP and START doing to improve their impact?”

Start requests include “expanding practical learning, integrating sustainability throughout the curriculum, prioritizing campus-wide sustainability, fostering inclusivity and diversity, and enhancing transparency and student involvement in decision-making. A major demand from students addressed to their schools is to develop their curriculum for positive impact. And to do it seriously.”

Conversely, students urged their schools to “stop using single-use plastics, outdated teaching methods, and ignoring student feedback. They also called for an end to partnerships with unethical companies and profit-driven educational models that neglect student and environmental well-being.”

MORE U.S. SCHOOLS RATED THIS YEAR

The PIR list is growing — and includes more U.S. schools than ever before.

The PIR now features a total of 102 schools from 34 nations that have been rated from 2021 to 2024 at levels 3 and above; more than 30 new schools joined in 2024, 22 of which were rated.

Four schools maintained their status as Level 5 schools: IIM Bangalore, SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, and Woxsen University School of Business, all of India; and CENTRUM PUCP Business School of Peru. They were joined this year by IIM Indore of India and INCAE Business School of Costa Rica. See the full list of schools in the top three levels below.

The U.S. has 11 schools across Levels 3 and 4, up from seven schools last year. Last year’s country wit the most schools, France, has eight schools on the 2024 list, down from nine in 2o23; Spain has seven, up from four; Canada has six, same as last year; and the UK has four, down from five. India has seven, same as last year.

All but one of the 28 “Progressing” countries in Level 3 are European or Canadian: The British College of Nepal. All but 10 of the 43 Level 4 “Transforming” schools are European/U.S./Canadian schools: three in Africa (two in South Africa, one in Kenya), two in China — including HKUST Business School in Hong Kong, a Level 5 school in 2023 — as well as three Indian schools; Sasin School of Management in Thailand; and IPADE in Mexico City, Mexico.

‘GRADUATING LEADERS WHO CAN BUILD A BETTER TOMORROW’

In keeping with tradition, the fifth annual PIR is focused on smaller schools. Most are not well known outside their home countries; none of the U.S. schools, for example, are top-ranked schools, with the best known being Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University or Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business

“We don’t just measure impact at the Positive Impact Rating, we empower schools to achieve impact excellence,” says Katrin Muff, president of the Positive Impact Rating Association, in the news release accompanying the new PIR. “The PIR helps business schools become leaders in positive change, graduating leaders who can build a better tomorrow.”

Among the newcomers to the list in 2024 is POLIMI School of Management in Italy, which was included in this year’s list of Level 4 “Transforming” schools. “This rating highlights how POLIMI Graduate School of Management has a positive impact culture, which is deeply embedded in our governance and systems. As well as this, participating in the PIR demonstrates the value our school gives to student feedback and voice. We are all incredibly proud of this achievement” says Federico Frattini, dean of POLIMI GSoM.