In a kitchen at the Rotterdam School of Management, a dozen students are huddled around a stove, learning to cook imaginative vegetarian meals. They use produce from local organic farms as a way to reduce their consumption of wasteful takeaways.
This is the school’s Sustainability Hub, where Eva Rood, director of its “Positive Change Initiative”, says her mission is “to make thinking about the Sustainable Development Goals mainstream.” She is referring to the 17 global priorities for 2030 agreed by the United Nations in 2015. The SDGs include education, the environment and reduced inequality. “They should be in every aspect of the school,” Ms Rood says.
Candidates for Rotterdam’s MBA programme now have to answer the question, “how will I be a force for positive change?” Those who are accepted then make public on social media their “I will” statements on how they will achieve those aspirations.