Ranking Finds Wide Range of Sustainability Activity at Canada’s Universities

Monday, June 26, 2006

Press Release

June 26th, 2006, Toronto—Corporate Knights magazine released a survey today that reveals which business—and for the first time—law and engineering schools are doing the best job at infusing social and environmental elements into the student experience.

The survey evaluated three groups of schools: 45 MBA/undergraduate commerce, 21 law, and 36 engineering schools. The methodology for the ranking is based on the number of socially or environmentally related elements in three main categories: Institutional Support (speakers, internships, endowed faculty, institutes) ; Courses (electives, required courses) ; and the number of relevant Student Clubs.

The most striking finding of the survey was the breadth and number of student clubs that are dedicated to social and/or environmental issues, contrasted against the dearth of similarly-themed course offerings. “This gap suggests that student demand for sustainability education exceeds the present supply,” said Toby Heaps, Editor of Corporate Knights. “Those schools at the vanguard are well-placed to entice the most interesting leaders of tomorrow,” he added.

The top three ranked law schools were the University of Toronto (1), York University’s Osgoode Hall (2) and Dalhousie University (3). The University of Toronto law school offered its students 23 electives focused on topics ranging from Public Interest Advocacy to HIV/AIDS in Africa. The number two ranked law school, Osgoode Hall, houses the Canada Research Chair in Transnational and Comparative Law of Corporate Governance as well as The Jack and Mae Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption.

The top three ranked engineering schools were École de technologie supérieure (ETS) (1), University of Calgary (2), and the University of British Columbia (3). ETS had an ecological snow mobile club (QUIETs) to design quieter more fuel efficient snowmobiles, a solar boat project (PHOTON) and a solar car project.

The top three ranked MBA programs were York University (1), University of Calgary (2), and St. Mary’s University (3). The top three ranked undergraduate business schools were York University (1), Trent University (2), and University of Calgary (3). Trent’s Green Ribbon Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility allowed graduates to make a commitment to the pursuit of social and environmental responsibility in their work with over 80 per cent of graduates taking the Green Ribbon Pledge in its first year (2004-2005).

Published in Canada by Corporate Knights Inc. Without limiting the right under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the above publisher. The information on this website was compiled from sources believed to be credible and accurate but the authors do not guarantee its accuracy. The authors and/or their agents and affiliates may from time to time hold positions in investments referred to in this website. © 2002-2012 Corporate Knights Inc., all rights reserved.