Toolkit: “Educating Future Leaders - Integrating Human Rights into Business Education”

Geneva Center for Business and Human Rights & NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights

July 2025

As the global economy expands, multinational companies face mounting human rights challenges across their labor supply chains and the application of new technologies. This evolving landscape generates increased public scrutiny and demands for greater government regulation, as investors and consumers expect higher standards of corporate responsibility. The challenge intensifies because global businesses routinely operate where local governments are unwilling or unable to protect their own people, creating significant governance gaps and elevated risks.

Business schools need to adapt to these requirements and equip their students with the skills to navigate these challenges and become responsible business leaders of the future. This Toolkit (PDF) aims to support scholars and educators to institutionalize a human rights perspective in their schools’ curricula. Business school educators and leaders who are looking to embed human rights into their teaching and research can discover –

• Real-world examples from business that illustrate why human rights matter in today’s management education
• Practical tools and resources to help integrate business and human rights topics into your school’s curriculum, including open-access teaching tools, experiential learning tools, case studies, and literature
• Insights and experiences from business school educators around the world
• Pathways for scholars and educators interested in becoming more involved in the business and human rights space

The toolkit has been developed together with the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights and with the support of the Global Business School Network.