The new class of the Bachelor in International Business is starting the new academic year
09/19/2022
They are 90 students, French and international, coming from more than 25 different countries, spread over the campuses of Lille and Paris – La Défense, and make up the new class of the Bachelor in International Business. For their first week at IÉSEG, they experienced a rich and diverse welcoming week, in order to get to know each other and learn to work together throughout the three years of the program.
Because IÉSEG’s mission is to educate and grow changemakers for a better society, and because CSR and sustainability are at the heart of the School’s interdisciplinary teaching, it was only logical that the students were welcomed by Maria Castillo, IÉSEG’s CSR manager and CSR professor. An icebreaker on diversity and interculturality as well as a collaborative workshop “Climate Fresco” kicked off their year.
Then, in order to break the codes and get them out of their comfort zone, the students worked according to the “Pecha Kucha” method (a Japanese method combining a short oral presentation, synchronized with the projection of 20 images automatically succeeding each other every 20 seconds), to make their own the Values of the School, the pedagogy of the Bachelor’s degree and to learn to work together.
Finally, after a presentation of the program redesign by the academic directors, Bernadett Köles and Hassan El Asraoui (the main changes are the extension of the internship period, the introduction of specialties in the 2nd year and the possibility to follow the 3rd year of the program in apprenticheship), the integration week ended with a Hackathon centered on the movie ” Bigger than Us ” to bring them to think about how they can be, at their own level, “changemakers”.
“Since IÉSEG’s mission is to train changemakers, we wanted to get students to think about what this can actually mean for them, and how they can act concretely. We therefore used the film Bigger than us, which follows 7 young people around the world who are taking action on issues as varied as freedom of expression, women’s rights, food security and environmental justice. Then, professionals from the business world (ADEO), the non-profit world (Destination Bien Commun), entrepreneurship (EREGA)… came to explain to the students how they have chosen to act on society,” explains David Montens, a doctoral student in management sciences, teaching and research assistant at IÉSEG and organizer of this Hackathon.
“Showing that one can be an actor in a large group as well as creating a start-up or an associative project is essential: everyone must be able to find their way around and above all understand that there is not only one way to act! Finally, the afternoon is dedicated to action: in groups, students think about an action they could implement and pitch it in front of everyone. It’s a very stimulating exercise, and we always come up with great ideas, like for example, this year, a “Teachers Without Borders” project to teach in refugee camps all over the world, or an association project working for sexual education in emerging countries.”