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Course Restructuring is the First Result of the Conference

Partnership between Case University (USA) and UFPR (Brazil), assisted by FIEP anticipates new training methods for business administrators with focus on sustainability

clique para ampliar 2009 BAWB - Global Forum (Foto: Alexandra Reschke)

Restructuring the business administration program of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) to train new executives committed to management with sustainability is one of the results of the BAWB-Global Forum Worldwide Conference held last week in Cleveland (USA). A cooperation agreement between UFPR and Case Western University (USA) and the Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná (FIEP) was the theme discussed during the meeting that convened rector of UFPR, Zaki Akel Sobrinho, the president of FIEP, Rodrigo da Rocha Loures, and the president of Case University, Barbara Snyder.

The partnership foresees a joint project to restructure the business administration program with changes in the curriculum and teacher’s training with a focus on sustainability. “This is a pioneering initiative and should place Paraná as leader of sustainability in higher education”, said the president of Fiep, Rodrigo da Rocha Loures, adding that Fiep’s contribution in this process is bringing the business perspective into the academic context.

In the US, Case University is spearheading this change in educating of future executives and leaders for sustainability. In Brazil, the medium and long term results will be the introduction of young professionals with a more comprehensive education. In its partnership with UFPR and Fiep, Case will contribute studies and research and faculty members to be part of course restructuring in Brazil. In addition to UFPR, the idea is to take the project to other business administration schools across the country.

A pilot project is already under way involving second-year business administration students at UFPR, PUC, UniBrasil, Unifae, and Spei. The profile of the students participating in this first experience was defined in cooperation with Fiep and entrepreneurs. With the Case agreement, the project will be replicated in other areas of the state and the country next year.

Other participants in the meeting were Vice-president for International Affairs of Case University, David Flesher; Vice-rector of Research and Extension of UFPR, Sergio Scheer; Director of International relations of UFPR, Carlos Siquiera; and Assistant to the president of Fiep, Marcos Schlemm.

Closing Session – Last Friday, Rocha Loures presented the results of the meetings held in Brazil that gathered approximately 2 thousand people including executives, academics, and public authorities that approved 80 proposals for Brazil and other Latin American countries to promote education and training of new leaders and managers, with a focus on sustainability. These meetings in Brazil were part of a commitment made by Rocha Loures in the last Global Forum, also in Cleveland, in 2006.

In the closing session of  BAWB-Global Forum, Rocha Loures pointed out that the principal contribution of the conference is significant learning on how to plan for sustainability. Another important aspect is the realization that it is necessary to stop seeing people as mere passive learners and start stimulating attitudes of competence, planning, and construction in everyone. For the president of Fiep, people can’t be trained as if they were these passive recipients, simply accepting the world as it is. It is essential to find new ways of bringing about change and improve the world in which we live. 

Book – During the worldwide conference, the president of Fiep launched the English version of his book ‘Educate and Innovate in Sustainability’. It is a revised and expanded edition of the publication written last year to renew the Global Forum Latin America debates. The book consists of a series of essays to stimulate an appreciative dialog about the mission of organizations, academia, and general society in favor of sustainability. The author emphasizes the need for businesses to become agents of world benefit and advocates the inclusion of the sustainability theme in the curricula of university-level business administration programs. The new English version includes a contribution by Hazel Henderson, who highlights leadership and innovation in Brazil, in different contexts, especially in business and academia in search of education for sustainability. The chapter addressing innovation as a way of “Creating Sustainable Value” was revised and includes comments by Humberto Maturana and Ximena Dávila. This part of the book describes business challenges in the knowledge economy era. The book also tells the history of the BAWB-Global Forum Latin America, reporting on the dynamics of the meetings held in Brazil in 2008 and 2009, and the Brazilian response to the worldwide movement.

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