The ESG agenda was the topic of the December meeting of the Strategy Commission of the Graduate School of Management of St. Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU).

The principles of sustainable development come first today and are actively implemented in the activities of companies and organizations. The economy needs specialists who understand the principles of ESG and the corresponding tools in detail. The place of the ESG agenda in the work of GSOM SPbU and the place of GSOM SPbU in the ESG agenda of Russia — this seemingly philosophical question has absolutely practical significance. That is why the plans shared by the Business School aroused the keen interest of the meeting participants and the support of the trustees. 

Opening the meeting, Olga Dergunova, Deputy President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board, GSOM SPbU Director, noted that the principles of sustainable development are one of the critical priorities of the Business School Development Strategy until 2025.

"GSOM SPbU was the first in Russia to introduce the ESG agenda as one of the priorities in research, educational and operational activities. For many years, the Business School has been a center of expertise in corporate charity, social responsibility, and social entrepreneurship. The ESG theme is integrated into Bachelor, Master, MBA, and EMBA programs. Today we are moving forward and inviting our partners to participate in updating the ESG content of educational programs from the practice point of view. We very much hope with your assistance to form such competencies in sustainable development among students and trainees so that our alumni bring this knowledge and skills to the corporate sector, public authorities and become valuable specialists in the labor market."

The ambition of GSOM SPbU is to become the most ESG-oriented business school in Russia. Yury Blagov, Director of the Center for Corporate Social Responsibility, told more about GSOM SPbU plans. He identified three main areas: educational programs, science, and research, Business School processes.

According to the GSOM SPbU Development Strategy, by 2025, the proportion of ESG disciplines in the curriculum should reach 15%, the topic will become cross-cutting for all educational programs.

Today, the Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility disciplines are included in the programs already. An online pilot course on sustainable finance has been released, freely available for Russian universities on the VTB ESG platform.

The courses "Basics of Sustainable Development" and "Environmental Resource Management" will appear in the Bachelor's curriculum in the next two years. Responsive to the current agenda, Master programs will also be updated. It is planned to develop an online course, "ESG-essentials", and release a specialized open course on the topic of ESG. Work is underway to create specialized programs of additional professional education on ESG topics and copy the Business School's experience to other higher educational institutions and corporate universities.

The Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus will also be developed to integrate the leading educational programs. Following the "green campus" philosophy, it will become an object of the educational process, a place for piloting student ESG projects, and a place of management practice for the development of the student's territory.

The meeting initiated a big discussion on ESG in education. GSOM SPbU partners discussed how to expand business participation in ESG content of educational programs, what competencies in the field of sustainable development alumni should have and how to make the Mikhailovskaya Dacha campus a Business School showcase. 

The discussion was moderated by Andrei Baida, Vice President, Head of the Risk Management Project Office of VEB.RF

An expert group on ESG is being formed within the strategy commission, which already includes the topic leaders. The next step will be developing a full-fledged ESG strategy of GSOM SPbU.

Natalia Poppel, Sustainable Development Advisor to the General Director

The time has come for a reassessment of values. A new generation is coming to the first line, which requires meanings. Today young people come to universities, and tomorrow they will participate in solving the most important economic development tasks.

The corporate sector faces implementing ESG approaches in all business processes. And for this, in my opinion, it is necessary to implement the principles of sustainable development literally in the DNA of management.

GSOM SPbU wisely chose its mission – "we create knowledge, develop leaders, change the world for the better". To change the future, you need to invest today. And when we give students basic knowledge that will be useful to them tomorrow, this is a justified proactive approach. Because if we try to invest this knowledge and this philosophy in advance. Specialists - each in their own direction — while taking a job after university will consider ESG principles in their activities and focus on them. And this is a long-term prospect of business success.

Together, both the business school and the trustees must work ahead of schedule, set the bar higher and higher, and strive to ensure that a person of the future comes out of the walls of GSOM SPbU. The development of the economy and the development of our country as a whole depends on this.

Irina Efremova-Garth, Corporate Citizenship Manager IBM Russia/CIS countries.

I will support the thesis that education should be cross-cutting. Big discussions are going on around ESG today. The question is asked everywhere — how this institution works within companies, who is responsible for it. Our practice shows that concentrating the function of sustainable development and corporate responsibility in one vertical is wrong.

The managers of the most diverse areas, the most varied specialists, regardless of what they specifically do, how they manage, should freely navigate the topic of ESG and understand what benefits it brings to a business. This task is solved by cross-cutting education with the ESG theme throughout all curriculum.

Vasily Fokin, Sustainability Roadmap Manager at L'Oreal, Russia

I am sincerely pleased with the innovations announced today in the educational sphere — it looks promising. The Russian market lacks a deeper consideration of sustainable development in narrow specialties. For example, in marketing, HR, communications. In fact, there is no clear understanding of any canons, standards. The business has a request for such cross-functional specialists who are not only marketers but also understand how to talk to the consumer in the ESG language. And there is a vast field for development here. At the same time, the training of such specialists is relevant for programs of different levels - both for Bachelor and for additional professional education.