Thursday, September 4, 2008

Brandeis launches ‘Green’ MBA program

By Mass High Tech Staff

Brandeis University’s International Business School reports it has started a “Global Green MBA,” for socially responsible business.

The new concentration blends traditional business issues with economic and social development, corporate governance and environmental policy. The program boasts students from over 60 countries and a curriculum rooted in international economics, finance and business, the Waltham-based school said.

The program’s requirements include courses on corporations and communities, corporations and the environment, and a seminar exploring what “green” means in different contexts. Students will also complete a field project using financial and business principals learned in core MBA courses.

The program is being introduced this fall with a course called “Business and the Environment,” as well as through a series of related presentations and panels.

Other area schools are ramping up their commitment to green issues. Last month, Worcester Polytechnic Institute added a pair of 2008 Honda Civic Hybrids from Zipcar Inc., available at the campus quadrangle for students and faculty to rent by the hour.

In March, Bowdoin College reached a three-year agreement to purchase renewable energy certificates from a wind farm run by Newton-based UPC Wind, now known as First Wind Holdings Inc.Bowdoin said it is offsetting approximately 70 percent of its campus electricity use with voluntary renewable energy certificates produced in Maine. The college said 31 percent of its competitive electric supply is from renewable sources.

Also in March, Burlington College in Vermont joined an energy-efficiency project composed of the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges. The association will make federal funds available to the school to improve the energy efficiency of older campus buildings, to retrofit older buildings with new technologies and to build new facilities.