Business ethics and social responsibility

Business ethics and social responsibility helps to offer more insights on the responsibility aspects of being an entrepreneur. You will learn how to take a broad perspective on the societal and environmental aspects since they are becoming increasingly as important for customers as a sound technical/ business solution.   

Bachelor - Introductory courses

JBG000 Data science ethics – 5 ECTS – Q4

The relevance of ethics content to the practice of data science will be central, with an emphasis on multidisciplinarity, responsibility to stakeholders, and how to use resources and methods to anticipate ethical and legal issues while creating social value. Case studies are used in this course.

Bachelor - Deepening courses

7XSUC0 Design for a sustainable future: ENTERPRISE – 5 ECTS – Q2

USE learning line Design for a sustainable future

The course offers a series of interactive lectures discussing the concept of business model from various perspectives and illustrating with numerous examples. Business model innovation is “hot” but it is certainly not a panacea. You will learn how and when they should apply business model innovation, and which factors have an influence on its success. The course further features testimonials and talks of several company speakers. During the course you will work on the following assignment: become a business consultant based on the design and advise of an innovative business model for a sustainable firm.

Bachelor - Advanced courses

1ZK20 Sustainability perspectives on product innovation – 5 ECTS – Q3

In the course “Sustainability Perspectives on Product Innovation”, students will learn which possibilities exist and which actions can be taken within and beyond the product development process to achieve socially and ecologically more sustainable and simultaneously profitable product innovations.

Master

0LM130 Ethics and the risk society – 5 ECTS – Q4

We live in a world where we increasingly control and know about the risks imposed on ourselves and others, in technological development, global health, the economy and the environment. Yet the increasing interconnectedness of our actions, for example through globalization, and dependence on a technological and information commons, make it difficult for any one agent to control the net risks to which individuals and particular groups are exposed. Students will develop an analysis of risk through the examination of cases such as environmental risks and sustainability, the nuclear power industry, and terrorist threats linked to new technologies. Students will learn to apply their analyses to new cases through a term paper assignment and individual/group presentations.

0FC05 Ethics of technology – 5 ECTS – Q1

E-voting machines, surveillance cameras, weapons, and faulty bridges all raise ethical questions. Can technology itself be ethical or unethical? Are engineers responsible for what others do with the technologies they design? To what extent should engineers avoid risks? In this course students learn to use philosophical theories and concepts to address the ethical aspects of technology. Specific methods for incorporating ethics into technology design are discussed and critically evaluated.

0LM150 Entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility – 5 ECTS – Q4

The course is divided into two parts. In the first part we clarify the hazard to which business ethics is a response and to identify the idea of conscience in relation to corporate culture. We will examine the role of moral reflection (conscience) in the lives of each of us as individuals and the corresponding role it plays in the culture of an organization. The second part focuses on the application of the conceptual foundations laid in the first part. Especially attention will be paid on the moral agenda of leadership, ecological responsibilities, and globalization.

PhD/EngD

2PDDSELW Ethics and law (Data science) – 1 ECTS

In many of the case studies and projects carried out in the frame of the program, ethical and legal issues related to data privacy and data governance play an important major role. Thus there is an E&L coach associated to the program, who can be consulted on matters related to ethics and law.