Principle 3: Method

We will create educational frameworks, materials, processes and environments that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership.

Curriculum

The CEMS Programme Intends to broaden students’ perspectives and develop their responsible attitude and entrepreneurial spirit through the curriculum, the CEMS events and partnerships with civil society organizations. A recent reform in the CEMS curriculum aimed at better meeting our mission statement’s objectives by creating academic frameworks and content, which enables students to learn how to become responsible leaders.

• Mandatory Global Strategy Course

The mandatory Global Strategy course, in addition to the international dimension and focus on corporate viewpoints, addresses “responsible citizenship” from a strategic framework (e.g. NGO Strategy, Stakeholder vs. Shareholder Approaches, the dark side of the firm, climate change, etc.).

• The Global Leadership Course

The Global Leadership course, together with the international dimension and management implications, places the focus on people. Learning how to manage people or people-related issues in an international context, also addresses the notion of “comprehensive leadership”. Understanding and exploring human management is the underlying passport to empathy and concern for others.

• The Global Citizenship Seminar

The Global Citizenship Seminar is compulsory at every member school of the Alliance. The essential concept behind the course is that student discuss in an experiential surrounding one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

• Block Seminars

A block seminar is a weeklong course organized by each of the CEMS member schools. They are both academically and culturally intensive and the experience is the ideal starting point into the programme as this may be the first opportunity for incoming CEMS students to meet and exchange with their new classmates.

A substantial number of Block Seminars focusing on social business, climate change or other sustainability issues have been undertaken (see Appendix 1). In total, 30% of member schools have incorporated a sustainability or responsible leadership dimension into their block seminar, which is in addition to the compulsory responsible global citizenship seminar. Even if the number of similar courses varies greatly from one school to the other, the goal is to ensure that all CEMS students are offered the opportunities to take at least one course on corporate responsibility and sustainability during their CEMS MIM year. Exposure to such subjects enables understanding, discussion and innovation towards change.

photo: Laurie Noble

• Elective

Students takes a series of electives credits during their CEMS MIM Master

77% of schools have included electives (see Appendix 2) related to sustainability issues in their curriculum, representing a total of 52 electives. Examples of elective courses on responsible leadership include: Green Management and Corporate Sustainability (Bocconi), Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chains (CBS), Corporate Sustainability and CSR (Corvinus), Development and Sustainability (FGV), Sustainability and Behavioural Ethics (RSM), Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (SSE), Social and Ethical Challenges of New Technologies (UAI)

• Skill Seminars

Skill seminars (see Appendix 3) are training seminars in practical skills. They are essential to kickstart an effective professional career and fundamental to adjusting easily to an international management environment. The sustainable skill seminars offered around the alliance were: • Responsible Citizenship: Being the Change Makers (IIMC) • Sustainable Business Models: Indo Naturals (NHH) • Designing Sustainable Business Models (NHH) • Let’s Enter a New Market - In a Sustainable Way (RSM) • Becoming Sustainability Ambassador (SSE) • Envision Your Career as a Leader with Social Impact (NOVA) • Sustainability and Leadership - a Match Made in Heaven (UoC)

Note that students are allowed to attend skill seminars in whichever institution part of the alliance, as long as there are spaces available for permanent students.

• Business Projects

A Business Project (see Appendix 4) is a consultancy-like project. International student teams solve real business problems as a one-semester part-time activity, tutored by a company and an academic member, in parallel. These projects reinforce the CEMS partnership between universities and companies in jointly shaping the student’s learning process in international management. Examples of business projects include:Metro Sustainability Initiative on Plastic for 2021 (Metro), Leading Sustainable Transformation in Hungary - Building Sustainable Business for Sustainable Future with Consumer Beauty Products (L’Oréal), How Cities are Preparing Space Impact on Sustainable Life on Earth (European Space Agency (ESA), The Creation of Green Products in the Airline Industry (Lufthansa)

• Experimental Learning (Internships)

The CEMS MIM combines academic theory with business practice. Internships that enable effective learning experiences for responsible leadership are also a key component of the CEMS curriculum. CEMS member universities also provide CEMS students with the opportunity to develop social projects in the framework of a course or a business project (see Appendix 3). Member schools can cooperate with social partners to offer projects with a management challenge in the responsible and sustainable development field.

• Social Internship Program

The Social Internship Program is a unique opportunity for CEMSies to gain valuable work experience In and explore the day-to-day of a social enterprise. The CEMS network currently has 8 social partners students can apply to and fulfill their CEMS internship requirements with. Despite requiring

important qualifications and diligent hard-work, this program represent an exclusive chance for students to apply business-focused skills to problems that impact society and the environment as a whole.

• UNFCCC Climate Change Strategy Role Play

The CEMS Climate Change Course and Model UNFCCC is run simultaneously by ten CEMS business schools (University of St Gallen, ESADE Barcelona, the University of Cologne, Rotterdam School of Management, Corvinus University of Budapest, University of Bocconi, Warsaw School of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics, Aalto University and NHH Norwegian School of Economics) for over 160 CEMS students.

The aim is for students to learn about the often-diverging interests of parties involved in global climate policy negotiations, including governments, sector specific industry associations, global companies, and environmental & humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The course enables students to learn about strategic frameworks for assessing the impact of climate change on markets and customer demand, which is essential for developing corporate strategies that avoid the negative consequences of climate change and take advantage of business opportunities evolving from a changing market environment.

The course follows four modules: • Introduction to climate change and its policy • Role of business in climate change (with expert guest speakers on the topic) • Negotiation skills training • 2-day simulation with all participating universities

The two-day simulation event usually takes place in one of the participating universities on a rotational basis. Due to the pandemic, the 2021 event will take place in Zoom City (May 13 – 15).

Photo: Model UNFCCC Negotiations in Zoom City 2020

• Student Initiatives

CEMS makes every effort to reward students for their initiatives in the field of CSR, sustainability and responsible leadership, as this is a core element of the CEMS values and spirit. In particular, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing battle against climate change, it is more important than ever to promote unity and awareness on social, political and environmental issues among the CEMS cohort. The following sections describe some of most important projects, initiatives, events and activities that CEMS students have organized both locally and globally over the past years.

• CEMS Global Projects and Initiatives

The CEMS global student-led body, the Student Board, includes a dedicated team that actively manages and coordinates initiatives to raise awareness and promote sustainability issues among the CEMS global community. It aims to bring students closer to society by creating a sense of responsibility about the world’s environmental, cultural, economic and social challenges that they will face as future global business leaders. It fosters the development of sustainable solutions and responsible actions, supporting ideas and organizations that are creating a positive social impact in the community. Events, such as the Global Sustainability Week and the Responsible Leadership Panels are entirely lead and run by the CEMS Student Board.

• New Generation Consulting

Cooperation with social partners can develop into further social projects. New Generation Consulting offers a new approach to consulting, where international students - pursuing a CEMS Master in International Management - work in virtual teams and act as consultants to help social organizations overcome business-related problems. An example of a NGC project was pursued together with Parami University in Myanmar. The Parami University of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a private non-for-profit four-year residential university in Myanmar. Planned to open in 2020, Parami University initially aims to maintain a body of 600 students with 150-160 students being admitted in each of the four cohorts. The project focus on a series of crucial milestones to be achieved before the opening of the University in 2020. From the business perspective, the team is seeking to finalize the Business plan, and to identify ways of growing the relationship with stakeholders through financial support, endorsement from business leaders, and building partnerships with local and international organizations. Through their involvement with these projects, students not only acquire a knowledge on diverse social topics, but do so based on their own expertise and through the skills and mindsets they have learned during the course of their studies. http://www.ngccems.org https://www.facebook.com/ngccems?ref=bookmarks

• Global Sustainability Week (GSW)

In an effort to raise awareness on the sustainability issues that affect our society, ranging from climate change, resource scarcity, global inequality, humanitarian crisis, migration and urbanization, and our role as future leaders to address them, the CEMS Student Board organizes the Global Sustainability Week annually. For 5 days in October, students in every CEMS university are exposed to a variety of student-led events and activities related to a sustainability topic. The concept of the GSW comprises two pillars. First, independent Sustainability events organized by local CEMS Clubs at their CEMS Schools. Equipped with the Responsible Leadership Team-designed Toolkit, CEMS Clubs are responsible to host the events organized under the umbrella of Sustainability. For instance, CEMS Clubs organized dinners by utilizing only ingredients sourced locally and lighting it up with the use of candles to reduce electricity consumption. The second pillar is an initiative at the global level, the CEMS Sustainability Challenge, consisting of daily challenges to help students be aware of and lead a more sustainable lifestyle. Through photo competitions, students worldwide are challenged to carry out a sustainability-related activity every day of the week and share a picture competing for amazing prizes all over the world.

Every day is dedicated to a different sustainability topic (e.g. consumption, water & energy, transportation, waste & recycling, food, education & development) challenging students to reduce their environmental impact.

As we firmly believe small projects and initiatives do change the world, below is a sample of challenged organized member schools during the GRW 2020:

Challenge 1: “Blood to spare”

Find a local blood bank to donate blood to.

Challenge 2: “Educate yourself”

Record education and awareness-driven books and movies watched during the week. Moreover, make suggestions for books and movies to be watched. The RL team suggested David Attenborough: A life On Our Planet, Before the Flood, and Gamechangers as movies to watch, and Limits to Growth (Donella Meadows), Prosperity without Growth (Tim Jackson), and Ecology of Commerce (Paul Hawken) as books to read. Challenge 3: “Pick it on the way”

Pick-up waste and record the number of items picked up. Challenge 4: “Plant-based for a change”

Go vegan and count the days you are fully vegan during the week. Challenge 5: “Happy feet” Count the number of km ran during the week.

Challenge 5 Challenge 3

• CEMS Universities’ Local Projects and Activities

CEMS students across the world are given the opportunity to initiate social projects or CSR-related activities. These experiences are shared throughout the CEMS community.