BUSINESS ethics is becoming increasingly important in Western society, where the gap between rich and poor is widening, the President said yesterday.
Opening an international conference of business students, Mrs Robinson said responsibility for the environment and for creating a more equitable society would also become pressing issues.
Young graduates would have a key role in determining the societal values which would shape the future. The present rapid change would have a major effect on the way our society functions.
"The work content of the future will increasingly be made up of intelligent tasks requiring initiative band the ability to adapt. This has significant implications for education and training systems," the President said.
The five day conference, organised by the international students' organisation, AIESEC, and called "Information: A Catalyst for Change", will examine the potential of trends in information technology.
The conference opened yesterday in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin. Delegates then travelled to Killarney for the rest of the conference.
AIESEC, which claims to be the world's largest student organisation, has 85,000 members. About 250 delegates are attending the conference.
