It is with a particular sense of satisfaction and excitement that I invite your attention to this first National Survey on the Status of Corporate Responsibility (CR) Teaching and Research amongst leading Management Institutions in India.

Partners in Change, formally established in 1995, has been pioneering the understanding and practice of CR in India. It has, more recently, focused attention on supporting initiatives related to the development of a new generation of ‘business leaders of tomorrow’, equipped with the orientation and skills required to successfully guide and navigate companies through the challenges and opportunities presented by the increased global and local attention to their social and environmental performance. These initiatives, previously described in our Annual Reports, have focused on the two key drivers of CR, namely, student bodies and Management Institutions. In the former case, we have, since 2003, worked in close association with the global student organization, AIESEC, to support its CR learning network in India whereas, in the latter, our efforts have included providing CR inputs to leading Management Institutions.

We felt, however, that it was necessary for us to capture, through a formal study, the current status of CR teaching and research amongst leading Management Institutions in the country. This would provide those interested with a baseline for measuring progress as well as valuable insights into the strategies to be adopted to enhance performance. In designing the survey instrument, we were eager to provide a level of congruence with other similar surveys that may have been conducted in other regions of the world. I would like to single out for mention the survey conducted in 2003 by the European Academy of Business in Society (www.eabis.org) and the Nottingham University Business School’s International Centre for Corporate Responsibility—a landmark survey covering 600 Management Institutions across 20 countries in Europe. This study encouraged us to undertake our own initiative in India. We were also conscious of the need to introduce in our survey a section focusing on the Management Institution’s own social and environmental practices, given the recent attention to their role, along with other academic institutions, in promoting opportunities for those of our fellow citizens who represent socially and economically ‘weaker’ sections of society.

It was with this context that we commissioned a noted agency, IMRB or SRI, with whom we have had over a decade’s experience with our national CR surveys, to conduct the survey. We are very encouraged at the excellent response we received from the 104 Management Institutions across the country that participated in the survey. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of these institutions for their support.

I had the opportunity to participate in the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit, held in Geneva on the 5 and 6 July 2007, when the publication, Principles for Responsible Management Education, was released. The complete details can be obtained at www.unglobalcompact.org. We have reproduced these six principles in the annexure to our survey report for your ready reference, with the hope that these will gain further endorsement and support from amongst all stakeholders interested in this agenda.

My colleagues and I will be happy to receive and respond to any queries or feedback you might have about this survey. These will be invaluable for the design of a second survey that we are planning for 2009.

Viraf Mehta