Sustainability at the MCI

Regina Obexer: The Center for Responsible Management & Social Impact was founded in October 2021, but the Center's agendas and activities are certainly not new at MCI. We have been an active member of the UN initiative PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) since 2011 and are committed to responsibility in management, sustainability and ethics at various levels, especially in relation to the education of our students, but also in other areas such as dialog, research and partnerships.

Over the past decade, much has been built and developed, both internally - such as through the development of cross-course learning objectives on responsible, ethical conduct and research, the MCI Community Projects, or the integration of Responsible Management and the SDGs into various study programs - and in collaboration with the PRME network and other partners.

Last year, the university management decided to further emphasize the importance of these activities and to consolidate them in terms of resources. The Center was thus founded with the aim of coordinating and supporting the various measures, activities and projects and also launching new initiatives.

Regina Obexer: First of all, the Center offers various services and opportunities for our primary target groups at the MCI, students and employees. With regard to MCI students, we work closely with the Student and Career Center, especially in the area of extracurricular training offered by the MCI Badges and in direct contact with students, e.g. via the MCI ÖH. This offer includes, for example, the "Responsible Management" badge, which has been running successfully for four years and includes courses and workshops on topics such as business ethics, skills for responsible leadership and social entrepreneurship. There are also other initiatives such as the MCI Earth Day, which is organized by students, or the "Carbon Literacy Training" on the topic of possible courses of action against climate change. We are planning further offers for the fall, such as the "Sustainable Development" badge and the recognition of volunteer work via the "MCI Volunteer" badge.

Our next target group is MCI employees in teaching, research and administration. There are also various further training opportunities here, such as a workshop on integrating the SDGs into teaching next June. The Center also works directly with various degree programs to support and promote this integration in both teaching and research. These activities are carried out in close cooperation with the MCI SDG/PRME Task Force, which consists of representatives of the various degree programs and central services and whose members, as "SDG Ambassadors", are important local actors and links between their own areas of activity and the Center.

The Center is active in various partner networks, such as the PRME Chapter DACH, the Alliance of Sustainable Universities, and the "Scholars At Risk" network. As part of this cooperation and also with other partners such as the Ban Ki-Moon Center or the Impact Hub Tirol, joint events are organized, knowledge and experiences are exchanged and collaborative projects are initiated.

Regina Obexer: By 2030, our goal is to support the university in making a clear contribution to the United Nations' 2030 Agenda. On the one hand, this means that all MCI graduates will have developed knowledge and skills in the field of sustainable development and social responsibility and will then be able to successfully implement these in their working lives or act as changemakers and work for a better future. On the other hand, it also means that we act sustainably in terms of our internal processes (preferably climate-neutral), that we conduct research that clearly contributes to the challenges of society and the environment, and that we implement effective activities in both our local and global activities and networks.