INTERVIEW
Business students are passionate about people, profit, purpose and planet. How is ESSCA addressing these emerging needs in its curriculum and delivery and how is the school focusing on developing responsibility and sustainability- centric leaders for today and tomorrow? CSR has always been a subject of particular attention for us. Many students are interested in subjects related to sustainable development and ecological transition. But not everyone has the same vision of these subjects and, above all, the same level of commitment. Since 2021, ESSCA has started the new academic year by involving its new students in projects with a positive impact.
Considering the disruptive influences facing business education (for example, digital credentials, the growth of consumerism, the Metaverse and stackable qualifications), do you believe business schools are under pressure to change their fundamental value proposition to become more commercial? I don’t know whether business schools should be more commercial. On the other hand, like any economic participant (public institutions or private non-profit associations also have their part to play) schools can establish their sustainability only by taking into account the evolution of their environment and the expectations of the potential beneficiaries of their actions. The topics discussed at the annual conferences of the major accreditation bodies are revealing in this regard. One thing is certain (and has been true since the dawn of time) the problem is not so much the quality of the diagnosis of our strategic environment as the ability to mobilise teams to meet challenges and accept uncertainty and environmental pressure. Would you say it’s important for schools to tailor a personalised experience for each student. If so, how personal aspirations of a student with the expectations of companies in terms of skills and managerial profiles. At all our campuses, each student has access to personal and academic support to make sure they reach their full potential. The appointment of a director of student experience in 2021 has also contributed to serving students better and enhancing inclusion with the launch of an online platform to report gender-based or sexual violence on and off campus. At the same time, the quality of mentoring services and professional development services offered by the Careers Centre has also benefited graduates’ placements. The completion of a gap year – during which a student can carry out internships does ESSCA provide this? We are focused on matching the
The Fund for Innovations in Pedagogy (FIP) was created in 2019 to promote and reward faculty-led innovation. An online campus was launched in 2021 to promote digital innovation. An online degree (MSc in International Business 4.0) has been developed and welcomed its first cohort in September. Composed of a common part (international manager 4.0 path) and a semester of specialisation (Fintech, Green & Digital Transformation and Luxury) this MSc integrates a demanding learning path with synchronous, asynchronous and autonomous learning activities. The pandemic and ongoing climate emergency are putting increasing pressure on business schools to remain international, but in innovative ways. How will ESSCA maintain an international footprint in light of these pressures? First, we assume that the international dimension is part of the added value of a professional but also humanist educational project; travel and the discovery of other cultures promotes tolerance and respect for others. The health crisis, the geopolitical context, the increased use of new educational technologies and the challenges of ecological transition have profoundly changed our vision of internationalisation over the past three years. ESSCA has decided to focus on Europe for its future locations (while maintaining the previous ones). By encouraging the international mobility of its students in the Euro-Mediterranean area, ESSCA will promote international mobility with a lower carbon footprint. However, we do not want to deter those who would like to complete a semester in another continent. We will simply ask them to justify this carbon footprint by highlighting the academic added value of the international semester in question. We are establishing a relationship between the ecological footprint and the academic added value in order to rationalise and empower students’ choices.
For example, our first-year students will build awakening and learning
structures for three days for children with neurological, physical or psychological disorders. It is our way of teaching students that good intentions must be translated into action. Our teaching integrates an increasing number of concepts related to the ecological transition. Specialisation cycles also devote increasing importance to responsible concepts and working methods: frugal innovation, climate finance, good governance and so on. Finally, the school must also show that, in its daily life, it integrates these responsible practices; for example, the creation of a CSR Advisory Board to support the governance of the school in the adoption of responsible development choices; the establishment of a Diversity and Inclusion Commission to improve our good practices internally, and the introduction of tuition fees adjusted according to family income. In addition, we have obtained an ecological quality label (protection of fauna and birds) for our historic campus in Angers and ESSCA is, according to the FT and Rotterdam School of Management, in the global top 10 for its scientific publications related to the UN sustainable development goals.
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