Strengthening Responsible Management Education Through Applied Learning

Following feedback collected through the Positive Impact Rating, Rome Business School strengthened the integration of sustainability, ethics and responsible management across its master programs by reinforcing the connection between faculty members, external stakeholders and applied learning activities.

A key mechanism was the enhancement of the Corporate Advisory Board workshops, a cycle of seven annual sessions involving managers, NGOs, entrepreneurs, faculty members and young professionals from different sectors. Working in moderated groups, participants discuss sustainability priorities, organizational challenges and future managerial competencies, contributing directly to the evolution of program contents and learning methodologies. Dedicated Not for Profit and Future Makers working groups further expanded discussions around social impact and responsible leadership.

Faculty members translated these inputs into more practice-oriented learning experiences across programs, including Business Practice Labs, collaborative projects and applied company challenges connected to real organizational scenarios. Through these activities, students work on business situations involving stakeholder expectations, operational improvement and responsible decision-making together with managers and corporate stakeholders.

As a result, sustainability and ethics became more embedded across the student learning journey rather than remaining isolated theoretical topics, exposing students more consistently to real managerial contexts where business performance and societal impact must be considered together.

"Responsible management cannot remain confined to theoretical discussions. Our objective was to make sustainability and ethics part of the way students analyze problems, collaborate with organizations and approach managerial decision-making in practice." Antonio Ragusa, Dean, Rome Business School