The demands of citizens and public authorities for data and privacy protection, security and reliability of data and information, financial stability, product safety and traceability are constantly increasing. In such a context, all actors need to trust regulatory regimes that their interests are safeguarded. An optimal level of trust is a precondition and a consequence of well-functioning of regulatory policy making. This is exemplified by recent scandals, such as major data leakages and privacy-threatening behaviour by Facebook and Google for instance. Indeed, these scandals created threats for citizens’ trust in regulatory regimes, which operate across different levels of governance for carrying out regulatory policies. In this context, the analysis of trust relationships among a variety of actors involved in these regulatory regimes has thus become essential to draw a more encompassing picture of trust dynamics and understand their drivers as well as their political and socio-economic effects.
Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 research programme, the “Trust in Governance and Regulation in Europe” (TiGRE) project has the ambition to explore trust relationships in three high value sectors: Finance, Food Safety and Communication & Data Protection. It will analyse the conditions under which their regulatory regimes are trusted at different levels of governance such as regional, national and European. To that extent, TiGRE will examine how actors involved in regulation (such as administrative bodies, politicians, courts, firms, business, consumer groups and citizens at large) interact with each other. To achieve these goals and provide a comprehensive understanding of this phenomena, a variety of methods will be employed, such as questionnaires for large-scale surveys, case studies, focus groups, experimental studies and media content analysis among others. The TiGRE project partners will target and be in regular contact with European stakeholders, representing a broad range of regulatory actors. To connect research with policy and practice, the TiGRE project will provide indicators to detect signals of decreasing trust as well as scenarios on consequences of decreasing trust.
Kozminski University is in the first edition of Positive Impact Rating (PIR) as one of 30 business schools in the world and the only one from Poland. The rating was announced on January 22nd during the World Economic Forum in Davos. Its aim is to show the universities which in their mission and daily activities are guided by sustainable development and positive impact on society and theenvironment. The students themselves evaluated their universities in terms of sustainable development, social involvement and ethics. - Business schools began to gain popularity around a century ago due to the growth of economic liberalism. They provided the market with techniques and tools to increase the value of companies, maximize profit, and make the best entrepreneurs even more productive. Over a quarter of a century ago, when we founded our university, we realized that an excellent manager could not be educated in isolation from ethics and social issues. Therefore, we have always paid much attention to our programs and curricula to these subjects. I think that now we have found the right balance between hard and soft skills in the education of future business leaders. Business schools should never offer just efficiency-focused analytical and technical courses. Today, the needs of the market and people are different, more complex, and demanding. Graduates leaving the university declare their desire to change the world for the better as their mission instead of only getting rich quickly. Universities must take their responsibility seriously and must become helpful to their graduates to achieve these goals, which is only possible by instilling social responsibility, sustainability in management, and concern for the environment in their day-to-day operations - commented prof. Witold Bielecki, Rector of the Kozminski University during the announcement of the rating results in Davos, Switzerland. Kozminski University is a well-known centre of research on business ethics in Poland and worldwide. The Centre for Business Ethics and Social Innovation operates under the direction of Professor Bolesław Rok. The University is involved in scientific and business projects in the field of social responsibility and sustainable development. In 2012 it hosted the 5th World Congress of Business Ethics organized by the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics. She is a co-organizer of the nationwide Ranking of Responsible Companies and Ranking of Positive Impact Startups. Prof. Rok is a CSR expert, consultant and juror in competitions evaluating, among others, social reports of companies. In Koźmiński, post-graduate studies for sustainability managers implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are conducted, which has already been completed by 200 specialists. In order to take care of the environment, the university introduces many solutions well received by students and employees, among others, it has withdrawn plastic water bottles, and in return it has made available drinking water taps, where you can fill your own vodkas, cafeterias offer discounts for coffee poured into your own reusable cups, there is a city bike station on the premises of the university, and electric car stands are available in the car park. The Positive Impact Rating is a list of the best business universities in terms of their social responsibility and concern for sustainable development, conducted by and for students. Students from top business schools around the world have evaluated their schools for their positive impact on the world, which goes beyond their contribution to business and the economy. Each of 50 universities from the top rankings of Financial Times Masters in Management 2018 (including the 20th place in this ranking) and Corporate Knights Green MBA (CK) were invited to participate in the rating. The analysis included responses from 2.5 thousand students from 51 universities. 30 universities were considered to be the most advanced in exerting positive influence in 7 defined areas. The rating was developed in cooperation with an international group of professors, international organisations (UN Global Compact, WWF, OXFAM) and student associations (AIESEC, Oikos, Net Impact). More information about the PIR rating and the final report of the survey here.
You can also read more about the rating in the PIR press release here.
