Principle 1: Purpose

Prme

We will develop the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable global economy.

Cems

CEMS’ vision is rooted in educating the purpose generation. To be part of the CEMS world is to acknowledge that great leadership starts with self-leadership and that we all need to take authentic responsibility. Through curricular and extracurricular activities, CEMS students are exposed to critical thinking and made aware of the challenges faced in today’s globalized world.

CEMS Commitment to Sustainability

CEMS is much more than an academic programme, it is an alliance of academic institutions, corporate visionaries, NGOs, and business leaders who seek to raise our collective global consciousness and create greater value for all through meaningful collaborations.

CEMS is committed to educating responsible business leaders contributing to a more sustainable world. We learn from our stakeholders on how to advance on this goal and how we in the CEMS world solve challenges and shape a sustainable future.

In line with our commitment to sustainability, CEMS develops the students’ mindset towards this commitment from the moment they are accepted into the CEMS MIM programme. Students are on a path to responsible citizenship and are held to the highest standards of ethical and social responsibility and professional integrity. In doing so, students will: be exposed to interdisciplinary challenges within an international context have access to best-in-class and hybrid teaching methods as well as a diverse curriculum be required to adopt an analytical and critical attitude be trained in collaboration with worldrenowned organizations by consolidating theoretical and experiential learning be a part of a global community taking part in exclusive international networking events and seizing employment opportunities

Students are expected to share the CEMS core values and draw upon cultural diversity with respect and empathy and accountability in relation to society as a whole.

CEMS MIM Curriculum

Aligning with the CEMS MIM programme learning objectives, each of the elements in the CEMS curriculum is carefully designed with its own purpose to increase the awareness and preparedness of the students to face future business challenges.

All CEMS member schools are required to offer all of the below CEMS MIM courses during the CEMS MIM year. CEMS students will be exposed to each element no matter whether they are at their home school or host school in order to fulfil the CEMS graduation requirements. In addition to the courses in the CEMS curriculum, CEMS students are also required to spend a semester abroad, complete an international internship, and have competency in three languages at the time of graduation.

Block Seminar

The Block Seminar is a one-week intensive course with subjects that derive from different cultural and academic perspectives; many topics are not a part of the universities’ standard curricula.

Global Citizenship Seminar

The Global Citizenship Seminar is a two-day course bringing together representatives from Corporate and/or Social Partners, professors and students in a unique synergy. Within the Global Citizenship Seminar, students will have the opportunity to engage with the Sustainable Development Goals through experiential learning.

Skill Seminars

Skill Seminars are training seminars in practical skills to kick-start an effective professional career and are fundamental to adjust easily to an international management environment. Delivered as interactive class sessions, CEMS skill seminars are integrated into the programme to help students to have efficient soft skills, including but not limited to sustainability, strategy skills, personal and career development, consulting skills, marketing and communication skills, and leadership and teambuilding.

Business Projects

Business Projects are consultancy-like projects in which students collaborate directly with CEMS Corporate and/or Social Partners to help solve real-life business problems. The Business Projects reinforce the partnership between universities and companies in jointly shaping students’ learning process in international management contexts. These projects are designed to give students hands-on business experience with a company to learn about their industry while finding solutions for the challenges of tomorrow.

CEMS Core and Exclusive Courses

The CEMS Core and Exclusive Courses are the best selection of courses with an International Management profile chosen by individual CEMS member schools, and offered exclusively to CEMS students.

Global Strategy and Global Leadership are the two compulsory core courses in the offerings from all CEMS member schools in Term 1 and Term 2 respectively. Global Strategy is a course that enables students to grasp the why, how and what of strategy in reshaping the future of economies and societies in a way that is meaningful and impactful. Global Leadership equips students with the knowledge and skills to manage people across borders and within multinational teams, creating culturally savvy individuals that show empathy and can relate to and interact with different cultures.

Elective Courses

The Elective Courses are a selection of best courses with an International Management profile chosen from the portfolio of individual CEMS member schools. Among the Elective Courses, students are required to learn about hard skills focusing on the training of students’ quantitative and computational skills, and emphasize the application and implementation in preferably real business-decision settings.

Global Courses

Global Courses include Global Online Electives and UNFCCC Courses.

Global Online Electives are aimed at providing students access to courses across the Alliance to add further value to their CEMS experience. CEMS students can take one global elective course at any CEMS member schools apart from their home and host school.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the annual meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP). The CEMS Climate Change Course and its Model UNFCCC is a semester-long lecture series on the topic of climate change and climate policy at the Masters level. The lecture series are followed by a unique two-day simulation of UN climate negotiations, where close to 200 students from 12 CEMS universities play the roles of government, non-government and industry representatives.

A total of 731 courses with Sustainability nature or related to Sustainability* were offered in 2021-2023 (as of mid-Mar 2023)**.

35 Block Seminars

59 Global Citizenship Seminars

74 Skill Seminars

152 Business Projects

57 CEMS Core and Exclusive Courses

354 Elective Courses (including 70 Global Online Electives )

* A classification of the CEMS courses is conducted based on a broad understanding that the course include sustainability as an important element.

** At the time of writing the report, it is in the middle of the 2022-2023 academic year. The course statistics are recorded based on the registered courses up to mid-March 2023.

In May 2021 and 2022, University of St. Gallen, ESADE Business School, University of Cologne, Rotterdam School of Management, Corvinus University of Budapest, Bocconi University, Warsaw School of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics, Aalto University and NHH Norwegian School of Economics have jointly organized the UNFCCC course.

Students had the chance 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 enabled 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.

Student-led Regional Events

In addition to the CEMS MIM programme elements, there are also purposeful extracurricular activities organized by students in different regions, and all these activities are aligned with the commitment to sustainability.

Every year, student clubs work on a rotating basis to offer an event to their fellow students and corporate partners in their region that focuses on a particular business topic and includes company presentations, case studies, skill seminars, networking and in some cases, company interviews. The major student-led initiatives include the DACH Forum, LATAM Forum, Marenostrum, Nordic Forum and V4 Conference.

date

18-21 October 2022 host

Vienna University of Economics and Business (Vienna, Austria) topic

Globalization and Emerging Markets date

The CEMS DACH Forum is a yearly rotating regional event which is organized by CEMS students from the three top business schools located in the DACH-area: University of Cologne, University of St. Gallen and Vienna University of Economics and Business.

19-22 October 2021 host

University of St. Gallen (St. Gallen, Switzerland) topic

Integrated Management & Leadership date

The LATAM Forum is a yearly rotating regional event which is organized by CEMS students among the South American schools of the alliance, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV and Universidad de los Andes School of Management (starting from 2023).

The forum is the occasion for students to learn more about sustainability and South America’s social issues, to hear about corporate partners’ initiatives, to learn about local initiatives and give back to the community.

15-17 November 2021 host

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Santiago, Chile) topic

How to Navigate Global Uncertainty and the Current Issues in the Region date 16-18 April 2021 host Koç University Graduate School of Business (Istanbul, Turkey) topic

Marenostrum (“Our Sea” in Latin) was a Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea. Today, it is a regional business forum organized by CEMS students from four top business schools in the Mediterranean region: Bocconi University, Nova School of Business and Economics, ESADE Business School and Koç University.

Sustainability as a Strategy date

18-21 November 2022 host

Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo-FGV (Sao Paulo, Brazil) topic

Sustainability in Today’s South America date

24-25 March 2022 host

ESADE Business School (Barcelona, Spain) topic

Conscious Consumption date

The V4 Conference is an annual CEMS event in Central Europe, hosted on a rotating basis by CEMS member schools of the Visegrad Group which includes Corvinus University of Budapest, SGH Warsaw School of Economics and Prague University of Economics and Business.

20-22 April 2022 host

SGH Warsaw School of Economics (Warsaw, Poland) topic

Challenges of the Modern Management date

The CEMS Nordic Forum is the largest annual CEMS conference and career event in Scandinavia, organized on a rotating basis by the four Nordic CEMS schools: Aalto University, Copenhagen Business School, Norwegian School of Economics, and Stockholm School of Economics.

12-14 April 2021 host

Norwegian School of Economics (Bergen, Norway) topic

Sustainable Business and Innovation for the Decade of Action date

27-29 April 2022 host

Aalto University (Helsinki, Finland) topic

Business Transformation for a Sustainable World