University of Stellenbosch

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University of Stellenbosch
Business School

Carl Cronjé Drive
Bellville, Western Cape 7530
South Africa

In the school's own words...

The University of Stellenbosch Business School is proud of its pioneering status in South Africa as the first school to incorporate business ethics into its core curriculum, and again the first school to incorporate Environmental Finance into its MBA course. The school’s drive was affirmed in 2007 when the new Vice-Chancellor of the bigger University of Stellenbosch articulated the theme of a Pedagogy of Hope for his term in office.

While fully supportive of world-class scholarship, the theme underscores that mere academic excellence will not guarantee that a university will play a meaningful and significant role in meeting the key challenges of South Africa and the African continent. The Vice-Chancellor challenged the University not only to become significantly different, but also significantly better as judged by its commitment to the future and the people of the continent. In operational terms it implies using the millennium goals as institutional focus area and development themes.

The Pedagogy of Hope holds the promise of multiculturalism, of unity, of overcoming divisions and inequalities. It is aimed at achieving the common good and advancing the communal interest, at promoting social cohesion and acting as an instrument of reconciliation and social and moral reconstruction. It also targets the achievement of justice and mitigates against corruption, exploitation, intolerance and a lack of compassion between communities and individuals. It is entirely in line with the EFMD’s Globally Responsible Leadership initiative, the AACSB’s views on Ethics Education in Business Schools and the Aspen Institute’s BeyondGreyPinstripes initiative as well as the Principles of Responsible Management which USB has underwritten.

The USB redesigned its internationally accredited MBA programme in 2008 to position it behind the Vice-Chancellor’s vision but also to better prepare students for the complexities of the economic, social and environmental realities of global business that will become their inheritance, through the creation of a high-performance leadership pipeline that runs throughout the programme and contains a high degree of personalised interaction between student and faculty members. Functional disciplines are integrated to a far greater degree than before and themes like management of diversity, social entrepreneurship, systems thinking, economic development and sustainable business and environments, corporate governance and ethics are dealt with in class and in team and individual assignments. A broad range of electives support the essentials of the millennium goals and a range of research centres lend further support to these goals by feeding in research results into the teaching programme. Of note are centres for Development Policy and Partnerships, Leadership Development, Coaching and Mentoring, Corporate Responsibility, Conflict Resolution and a Learning Laboratory for Business at the Bottom of the Pyramid.

School Demographic Information