– The SASUF funded workshop was highly appreciated and offered valuable insights for the participants, says Katharina Rahnert, Senior Lecturer in Business Administration at Karlstad Business School and one of the initiators.
Katharina Rahnert, what was the purpose of the workshop?
– We wanted to raise awareness among the participants about the importance of corporate sustainability. The idea was to help them become more responsible corporate professionals in their future careers. Another goal we had was to raise awareness about cultural differences, which we hoped would give them useful insights as they enter an internationalised work environment.
Why is this important?
– In a world where sustainability issues have become essential and international relations are a natural part of the business world, the workshop offers participants the chance to tackle issues and approaches that are often overlooked in traditional university education.
Who were the participants?
– The workshop was primarily aimed at students in business administration, as well as teachers, at Karlstad University, Luleå University of Technology and two South African universities, Stellenbosch University and University of the Western Cape. The latter is a so-called historically disadvantaged institution under apartheid. It was very interesting to see how rewarding the exchange between participants from the two South African universities was, since their cultural and socio-economic backgrounds were so different.
Tell us more about the structure of the workshop
– The workshop ran for about four weeks and included digital meetings, self-studies using material that was presented on the workshop website in the form of texts, video clips and quizzes, as well as group work and written assignments. The evaluation showed that the workshop was highly appreciated, especially because of the opportunity to get to know people from other parts of the world, and because it turned out to be perfectly timed.
