The Sharing Information on Progress (SIP) of the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos, Nigeria since the beginning of 2010.
Principle 1
Purpose: We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.
Achievement
Students in the University of Lagos, Faculty of Business Administration have many opportunities to develop critical skills in the area of ethical environmental and social responsibility. The creation of students’ Advocacy Group in 2010 offer undergraduate and MBA students great opportunities for networking and professional enrichment. The Student Advocacy Group (SAG) is a CSR related group that comprises 20 primary members. This group is a critical person power component of the CSR Initiative. The group engages in Lectureship and discussion groups, pursue CSR research, assist in the identification, distribution and annotation of CSR materials, plan events and create linkages to the public, private and media sectors.
Actively engaging in all these activities will develop us to become CSR leaders with high standards of personal ethical behaviour. The SAG is ably supported through the British American Tobacco funded CSR initiative which is an arm of the UNILAG-USAID/KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Partnership Project at the Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos.
To function effectively and effectively, the SAG came up with its own structure which has a Coordinator, General Secretary and Financial secretary and three (3) Task Unit/Departments which are; Research Grant Unit, Literature Review Unit and CSR Network Unit.
The objectives of the SAG are to be accomplished departmentally to achieve overall goals. The goals are the following:
The major goal of the group is to align business and environmental interest of students with a wide-range of activities and campus greening initiatives, and building a model for acquiring industrial knowledge in the area cooperate socially responsibility;
Research Grant; Pursue CSR research, publicize the unit, collate applications, notify approved applicants, follow up on approved grants.
Literature Review; Assist in the identification, distribution and annotation of CSR materials.
CSR Network; Create linkages to the public, private and media sectors.
All together, we will plan events, competitions, conferences, seminar and awards.
Principle 2
Values: We will incorporate into our academic activities and curricula the values of global social responsibility as portrayed in international initiatives such as the United Nations Global Compact.
Achievement
Nigeria is a developing country seeking to develop innovative people for sustainable development. The values of social responsibility in this context are strongly linked to building market inclusivity as an overarching strategy. The importance of incorporating values of social responsibility into our academic and administrative activities has been communicated to our key stakeholder – students, faculty and administrative staff. This was done through a Public Announcement of the CSR Initiative at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on 28th Jan. 2010. The CSR initiative is one of the six Work Groups set up by the Kansas State University/USAID Project. The goals of the initiative are to:
· Raise awareness on CSR
· Promote dialogue on CSR
· Create new knowledge on CSR and
· Enhance students’ learning vis-à-vis the public role and private enterprises in contemporary Nigerian Society.
By so doing, we expect to increase the general awareness of the key stakeholders regarding the universal principles of social responsibility as expressed in the UN Global Compact.
As part of our curriculum development process, we have re-defined the syllabus of all our courses to embody elements of the PRME principles and align all the contents with the mandate of Responsible Leadership. CSR has been introduced as a mandatory course for students in the Faculty of Business Administration. Thus various business ethics issues and CSR-topics are addressed in the context of that cut across various disciplines (Accounting, Management, Marketing, Human Resource Management, Finance, Actuarial Science and Insurance).
Principle 3
Method: We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.
Achievement
CSR work group was created at the faculty to create new knowledge and change. The work group members were given initial training by the project coordinator. Substantive resource materials were collected by USAID Project Directors and put in CD for access by the workgroup. Distinguished lecture series have been held to discuss CSR.
The coordinators, CSR work group, Dr. O. L. Kuye represented the University of Lagos at the 2nd Global Forum for Responsible Management Educators held in New York in June 2010. This provided the university the opportunity to learn and share knowledge on CSR with the international scholars that were in attendance.
A Public Lecture “Building a Sustainable Business: The Need for Corporate Social Responsibility’’ was held at the Faculty of Business Administration on 21 July, 2010. The conclusion of the presentation shows the need for students to begin to shape their thinking along the lines of building businesses that are socially responsive to understand the benefits of socially responsible companies and how the benefits arising from this strategy can be valuable not only to the company but to the larger society in a sustainable manner. It recommends that students should as a result of this new expectation from the business, begin to think proactively and innovatively of how these interactions between the business and its social responsibilities can be implemented in ways that are beneficial not only to its shareholders and employees but to everyone along its newly defined chain of responsibility.
Principle 4
Research: We will engage in conceptual and empirical research that advances our understanding about the roles, dynamics, and impact of corporations in the creation of sustainable social, environmental and economic value.
Achievement
The CSR workgroup members have done one or more research on CSR and their papers are being put together for further exposure. Avenue for presentation and assessment on CSR have also been created. This will enable the students enhance their research skills.
The University of Lagos Library has a Volume of 477,211 Books.
Journals – over 750 Titles, both Foreign and Local.
Collaboration – Literature Exchange:
Others current exchange partners:
University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago
University of Kent, U.K
University of Pittsburgh, U.S.A.
Stanford University, U.S.A.
University of Malaya, Malaysia
University of Philippines, Philippines
National Diet Library, Tokyo, Japan
International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada
The Library Congress, USA
Principle 5
Partnership: We will interact with managers of business corporations to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting, social and environmental responsibilities and to explore jointly effective approaches to meeting these challenges.
Achievement
The faculty is partnering with managers of business corporations to extend our knowledge of their challenges in meeting social and environmental responsibilities. This is done by way of getting experienced executives and captains of industry to serve as Adjunct Lecturers in the Faculty.
Principle 6
Dialogue: We will facilitate and support dialogue and debate among educators, business, government, consumers, media, civil society organizations and other interested groups and stakeholders on critical issues related to global social responsibility and sustainability.
Achievement
To ensure that effective stakeholder engagement is observed and to gather various views, experiences and expertise in the area of social responsibility, the Faculty of Business Administration is committed to encouraging and facilitating dialogue and debate among and with key stakeholders. Thus, in December 12-14, 2011, the Faculty will host an International Conference on CSR in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Theme of the Conference is CSR for Sustainable Economic Development. The 2011 conference on CSR in sub-Sahara Africa will highlight pertinent issues or CSR in the sub-Saharan Africa, drawing from lessons learned from Studies conducted in the developed economies, among many others. The conference will host both academic and practitioner sessions which will create opportunities for knowledge sharing between academic and practitioners. The sessions will also provide an avenue for networking, promotion of CSR good practices and cutting-edge ideas.
The link below should lead you to the conference website and the call for papers:
http://www.csrinsubsahara.org.
Future Perspectives
1. We want to continuously develop our own practices and curricula in a way that helps to support the cause of responsibility in business;
2. Develop an Outreach CR Programme which allows students to volunteer their time to special causes.
3. Screening of CR documentaries and hosting of CR related debates/panel discussions.
4. Greater drive to encourage faculty to conduct research on social responsibility and sustainability.
5. More professionals and managers with a background in CR are actively used in teaching and invited as guest lecturers.