Start of the year for academic education: launch of the “transformative journey” and new programmes

This article was originally published on edhec.edu - 27/09/2024 

At the start of each school year, EDHEC Business School organises events (conferences, workshops, seminars) for its students enrolled in academic education (EDHEC International BBA, Master in Management and MScs) on its Nice, Paris and Lille campuses. For the start of the 2024 academic year, the School devoted several days to welcoming students through high-profile thematic events designed to inspire. These initiatives marked the start of the transformative journey, the new vision for the journey students undergo during their time at the School, devised as part of EDHEC’s  “Generations 2050” strategic plan for the 2024-2028 period. New programmes and tracks have also been launched, such as the GETT Europe and the Master in Data Science & AI for Business. 

Train to transform 

Monday 26 August 2024 saw the 750 Pre-Master students start life at EDHEC with a new seminar: the EDHEC Transformation Leap. Split into 100 teams on the Lille campus, they were tasked with imagining how companies and managers of the future could look, notably by referring to research articles written by the School’s professors on the circular economy or greenwashing. “We wanted to make students think about fundamental transformations in companies, such as the emergence of the net positive corporate model, conceptualised by Paul Polman, the former Unilever boss and co-author of the book “Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take”, underlines Juliette Gadaud, Director of the Pre-Master at EDHEC. 

The following day, Pre-Master students were familiarised with the topic of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The morning was devoted to a conference run by Ophélie Latil, founder of Dames Oiseaux, a consultancy advising organisations on equality and diversity, and providing training in the area. Under the title “The Origins of Sexual and Gender-based Violence: Understanding the Mechanisms of Differentiation and Domination”, the conference explored the roots of violent behaviours based on sex or gender.

Continuing with the theme, EDHEC International BBA and Pre-Master students took part in a workshop based on the “Act and Stop SGBV!” educational tool developed by the Diversity & Inclusion Chair. This innovative workshop, taking the form of a card game, has received the support of France’s Ministry for Higher Education, Research and Innovation. Divided into groups, the students learned to associate specific situations with legal definitions, by referring to realistic cases that could arise in various contexts: student environments, public or private spaces, or in the professional ambit. 

Pre-Master students also took part in the four-week Innovation Sprint module focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. Operating in teams, they worked on issues raised by start-ups and associations, in relation with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The process included four stages - observation, creativity, prototyping and pitch – and since the start of the 2024 academic year, the module has incorporated the concept of Sustainable Design, in order to encourage students to embed societal and environmental questions into their proposals. 

For the start of the 2024 academic year, EDHEC Business School is welcoming twenty-two new professors from all over Europe. These recruitments, provided for in the previous strategic plan and fully aligned with the new ‘Generations 2050’ plan (2024-2028), aim to strengthen the school's teaching and research departments in key areas such as climate finance, biodiversity and ecosystem accounting, responsible entrepreneurship, well-being and sustainable marketing practices. 

New on the teaching front

The “Planetary Limits and Corporate Transformations” class has evolved this year, expanding from 18 to 36 hours and being enriched with group sessions geared to developing students’ critical thinking regarding the social and environmental impacts of products, services or organisations. As part of the onboarding of Pre-Master students, the class began on Wednesday 4 September with a conference led by Marc-André Selosse, professor and researcher at France’s National History Museum in Paris. Over two hours, he presented students with his latest research, published in his book “Nature et préjugés. Convier l’humanité dans l’histoire naturelle”. Through his contribution, Marc-André Selosse explored the relationship between human beings and nature, while also highlighting the conditions for sustainable co-existence between the two.

In another addition to the Pre-Master programme, Wednesday 18 September saw EDHEC organise a collaborative workshop - “Fresque des nouveaux récits” - focused on developing new visions of society. Using a card game, students working in small groups learned about the importance of the narratives related to their behaviours. They then built a scenario for changing an established social norm in the space of 10 years, by making it compatible with planetary limits. A rich activity founded on exchange and fostering an optimistic approach to ecological and societal transition.

As part of the transformative journey, the EDHEC International BBA has also remodelled the format of its Sustainable Impact Projects (SIPs). These projects, conducted under the status of an association, deal with issues related to SDGs, such as health & well-being, education or gender equality. A team of tutors now supports students during practical classwork sessions, thereby helping them to attain educational objectives. In addition, a new form of governance has been introduced, such that projects concerning the same SDG are now attached to a parent association, referred to as the "Cohort Association". This new organisation aims to make it easier for associations to find partners and to share good internal practices, particularly regarding project management.

For their part, Master 2 students took part in the Sustainable Campus Challenge, a competition developed jointly with Capgemini Invent. During the challenge, the students came up with solutions for improving student well-being on campus and for better incorporating environmental and societal issues into the career support offered by the School. 

New tracks

The start of the 2024 academic year marked the launch of the GETT Europe, a new pathway  within the Master in Management programme and offered in partnership with ESMT Berlin and Imperial College Business School. The new pathway rounds out the existing GETT programme which gives students the chance to study on three continents (on EDHEC Business School’s Paris campus, at Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley, and at SKK Graduate School of Business Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea). The GETT Europe pathway is designed to equip students with solid skills in the areas of data science, entrepreneurship and technology & innovation management.  

Lastly, EDHEC welcomed the first cohort of the Master in Management - Data Science & AI for Business track on 2 September. This new track trains students in data science and in the different applications of artificial intelligence in the business world. Thanks to the EDHEC Foundation, the Data Science track is now endowed with a corporate partner in the shape of Orange. This strategic collaboration will enable students to interact with experts and to work on practical cases concerning the industry. 

A review with photos describing the start to the academic year for EDHEC Executive Education and MBA programmes will be available shortly.