Strategic collaboration between the THUAS’ MBA Programme and Mission Zero
The MBA programme at The Hague University of Applied Sciences distinguishes itself with its strong focus on sustainability, responsibility, and social entrepreneurship, as well as personal leadership development and applied research. Collaboration with educational programmes is a priority for Mission Zero in the endeavour to enmesh knowledge of sustainability into the fiber of education at THUAS.
The sustainable ambitions of the MBA programme in collaboration with Mission Zero were discussed in a conversation with Manon Pieper, and Marysia Piësla, the current and future programme managers of the MBA programme.
Manon Pieper and Marysia Piësla
Manon Pieper has been the programme manager of the THUAS’ MBA program
since the summer of 2017. Manon got her doctorate of Business
Administration in 2020, and her research was about leadership
development and action research. She has also been a researcher at
Mission Zero for a few years and contributes knowledge of action
research and research methodologies to the centre. Manon lent her voice to Mission Zero’s podcast, Wasted Tales, where she took on the character of Cleo, a concept store.
Marysia Piësla, programme manager of the MBA as of spring 2021, has a
background in law. She started in the education sector as a company
secretary at Hotelschool The Hague 10 years ago, where she worked on
policy issues concerning education. After a few years she joined THUAS
in an operational position and became a policy advisor for The Hague
Graduate School. Next to this, she works in a renewable energy company
and is responsible for their business development in Poland.

Sustainable vision for the MBA, and the transformation of the programme according to that vision
The sustainable vision for the MBA programme developed in line with
global trends in terms of business and management. After the program’s
last accreditation in 2014, a global business environment programme was
adopted, which was an awareness programme focused on reporting
sustainable developments.
As the area of sustainability developed in the market, students
increasingly requested this to be a part of their education.
Consequently, a new module called CSR and social entrepreneurship was
introduced as a core part of the programme in 2018. The program
underwent a further curriculum change in 2020, which introduced blended
education, larger modules, and learning communities. This helped to
integrate topics of sustainability and circular business. The next step
for the program is a full collaboration with Mission Zero. The vision is
to make sure sustainability topics are part of the DNA of the MBA
programme, rather than an addition.
Upcoming collaboration between Mission Zero and the MBA programme
Several initiatives are being developed for Mission Zero to collaborate
with the MBA programme. On July 7th, a teacher’s day is being organized
with the theme “Education as Regeneration”. This theme aims to instill
the fact that sustainability is an inherent part of education, as
education has an impact on the world. It will build on the Berlin
declaration of UNESCO (2021), which calls for increased ecological and
relational approaches to education. The focus of this declaration is to
nurture action competence by linking everyday wicked problems and by
inviting a multiplicity of learning.
A ‘menu’ is also being developed for MBA staff. This focuses on key
literature and materials related to sustainability and the different
components of an MBA, such as finance, strategy, and learning &
development. The menu will also include case materials, pedagogical
materials, and potential exercises that combine eco-subjectification,
eco-qualification, and eco-socialisation to empower the development of
future students. This menu is a tool which will transform existing
courses pedagogically and content-wise, to be more in line with
life-affirming education.
For the students a ‘tasting platter’ will be developed, which will
provide a variety of possibilities to get engaged with Mission Zero
activities. This will already be offered to MBA students starting
September 1st 2021 during a kick-off event.
Next year, the aim is to develop, alongside the fundamental MBA
programme, a top-up programme focused on circular business. The aim is
to launch this programme in September 2022.
The value of collaboration with Mission Zero for the MBA programme
The MBA has already started the transition to becoming more
sustainability focused. Many MBA students work, and often hold
management positions within multinationals where they can execute
change. As we are engaging with a societal transition towards more
sustainable futures, many more companies will find themselves needing to
transform rapidly. The challenges that these future leaders face
require different skills, capacities and abilities than what we have
seen in the past.
If we can enrich the current fundamental MBA program with a top-up that
focusses on nurturing such capacities, it would help students to gain
these type of new leadership skills and become the next generation of
change agents. For example, topics such as doughnut economics, planetary
boundaries and biomimicry can be included in the learning communities,
thesis projects etc. These opportunities can help them to co-create
knowledge with other students, lecturers, and researchers within Mission
Zero. It can be a way for students to contribute to a better, more fair
and more sustainable world.
For more information about the MBA program, please check the website.