Sustainability Professional Area of Focus
In partnership with the Porter School of Environmental Studies, Sofaer’s Professional Areas of Focus (PAF) in Sustainability is designed for students with interests in corporate responsibility, sustainable management practices, clean technologies, social enterprise and NGO management. The Sustainability PAF is multidisciplinary, providing a wide variety of courses allowing students to meet their particular professional area of interest.
To successfully complete a PAF, students must take at least 5 elective credit units in a single PAF concentration. PAF’s are unofficial concentrations that will not appear on academic transcripts. Students will, however, receive a Letter of Completion upon graduation.
Sustainability PAF Courses
(*) Denotes Porter course
Course | Credits | |
Business Models for the Base of the Pyramid | 1 | |
*Changes in Ways of Perceiving the Environment with the Shift to Agriculture | 1 | |
*CleanTech (not final) | 1 | |
Corporate Environmental Strategy | 1 | |
*Climate Change & the Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Basin | 1 | |
Creating Shared Value | 1 | |
Doing Business in Emerging Markets | 1 | |
*Renewable Energy | 1 | |
*Environmentalism: Ethical & Cultural Perspectives | 1 | |
*Environmental Economics | 1 | |
*Environmental Policy & Sustainable Development | 1 | |
Giving: Pro-social Behavior & Managerial Effectiveness | 1 | |
Measuring Eco-Efficiency in a Business Context | 1 | |
*Water Resources in the Middle East | 1 | |
*Water resources of the Middle East: Negotiation, Policy and Management | 1 | |
Note: PAF-specific courses subject to change. Course times may conflict. Students are advised to preemptively coordinate courses with their Program Coordinator and are ultimately responsible for ensuring they meet course prerequisites before enrollment. |
PAF Highlight Opportunities
Course: Creating Shared Value & The Triple Bottom Line Group Practicum
Via a theoretical course and a group practicum, IMBA students have the opportunity to gain both knowledge and management tools relevant to corporate citizenship, community engagement, and the Triple Bottom Line – preparing students for the modern challenges in the global business environment.
Course details
Course: Business Models for the Base of the Pyramid
Prospects for a more inclusive capitalism are appearing on the horizon. In parallel, private sector firms facing saturated markets with limited growth potential and highly competitive business landscapes are searching for new opportunities. This has led managers to pay greater attention to opportunities in base of the pyramid (BoP) markets, the appropriately four billion low-income people living in the developing world.
This course integrates concepts of strategy, international business, non-profit management, and poverty alleviation to stimulate the leadership skills and competitive imagination needed to understand the BoP landscape and create successful BoP ventures.
The Institute for Business, Environment and Society
Established at Tel Aviv University in 2007, the Institute for Business, Environment and Society is the first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary institute in Israel, and serves as a meeting point between academia, the business world and the public in addressing the sustainability challenge.
IsraelDev Network
The IsraelDev Network is an entrepreneurial community rooted in Tel Aviv University working to develop a nationwide ecosystem that harnesses Israeli innovation for solving challenges in the developing world. By hosting lectures, hackathons, networking events, pitch-nights, meetups, conferences and retreats, IsraelDev seeks to stimulate dialogue and action around issues of global poverty and sustainable economic development.
Network website
Net Impact
Tel Aviv University is home to the first Israeli chapter of the international organization Net Impact. Net Impact is a student led community of over 30,000 members worldwide who care about sustainability and using their jobs to make an impact that benefits not just profit, but people and planet too.
Further details