With the ‘Sustainability Certificates’ IÉSEG rewards its students’ commitment to sustainability
04/04/2022
The ‘Sustainability Certificates’ come from the ‘Responsible Leaders’ initiative, launched in 2018 by IÉSEG as part of its Vision to empower changemakers for a better society.
The objective of this initiative is to involve the School’s students in the creation and implementation of projects related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development. Each year, this initiative brings together between 10 and 20 volunteer students who work closely with Maria CASTILLO, IÉSEG’s Head of CSR.
The ‘Sustainability Certificates’ aim to reward the CSR commitment of students throughout their studies at IÉSEG. “I put a lot of effort into this project because it seemed very important to me to be able to reward all the students at the School who are committed to CSR initiatives on a daily basis and to encourage others to take action, by showing that IÉSEG recognizes, supports and rewards them thanks to this Certificate,” explains Victoria Guillemot, a master’s student in the Grande Ecole Program and former ‘Responsible Leader’.
The Sustainability Certificate is based on four categories of criteria: the first is academic, with the number of courses and electives in the field of CSR taken by the student; the second is the involvement in associations and participation in CSR conferences; the third is the professional experience (internship in particular) that the student has carried out; finally, the final thesis or the Consulting Project must relate to one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Students who wish to do so fill out an application form which is reviewed by a jury of students (the Responsible Leaders). The School’s management then validates the jury’s recommendations to award these certificates.
For the first batch of students, 10 students (5 from the Bachelor cycle and 5 from the Master cycle of the Grande École program) will be rewarded and will receive their ‘Sustainability Certificate’.
Charlotte GROENLUND, a 5th year student at IÉSEG who was awarded the Sustainability Certificate this year, says: “I am very interested in the topic of sustainable development and I obtained the certificate thanks to my participation in conferences, my choice of electives on this topic and my investment in the Humanitarian Office. I also wrote my thesis on the theme of food waste and did a 6-month internship in a start-up specialized in plastic upcycling. Outside of IÉSEG, I also followed a MOOC on this subject. This certificate is a reward for my commitment to CSR. It will also have a real professional impact, because it is a differentiating element, which will certainly be of interest to recruiters.”