DESI SCHMITT
Director of International Affairs
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
2022 enabled the International Affairs Department to reinforce the influence of Audencia beyond France’s borders, through signing agreements with renowned institutions, strengthening its presence in China, opening its São Paulo campus in Brazil and many other actions.
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Audencia’s objective is to double the number of international students on one of our French campuses by the end of the strategic plan.
How would you assess 2022?
In view of the ECOS 2025 strategic plan, we delivered on all our commitments in 2022. This was reflected in the sighing of several major agreements with prestigious institutions such as the Harvard Business School, Copenhagen Business School, UC Santa Barbara and Fundação Dom Cabral, among others. 2022 also enabled us to support Audencia’s strategy of skills hybridisation through the launch of three new Bachelors of Science proposed in Shenzhen, in addition to our already deployed MSc in Financial Technology.
This strategy further strengthens our presence in China via the existence of a Sino-French centre which has obtained Chinese Education Ministry recognition: the Shenzhen Audencia Financial Technology Institute (SAFTI). Finally, this year has also witnessed the opening of our Campus in São Paulo, meaning the various partnerships underway will allow Audencia to enjoy a continually increasing influence in this part of the world.
What is your vision for 2023?
2023 will allow us to accelerate, strengthen and even bring to fruition the projects and initiatives launched in 2022, with several of our academic partners in France and abroad, starting with the relaunch of the programme jointly run with the Monterey Institute of International Studies. On the menu are 3 modules, at the end of which the students enrolled will obtain a certificate. Our clear objective is to strengthen this type of partnership, which is really beneficial and rewarding for our students. This year will also see our first 4 Audencia students attend the Harvard Business School as part of a hybrid programme that will be half on-line / half off-site, with, on completion, a certificate delivered by Harvard Continuing Education, focused on 3 major themes: corporate sustainability & innovation; international relations; Environmental policy & international development.
Currently, 2023 is set to be marked by a turbulent and uncertain geopolitical context: the opening of China’s borders, the consequences of Brexit with increased competition in the Indian and/or Chinese markets, the closure of Russian and Ukrainian borders and their impact on many countries around them (Poland, Romania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, etc.). For three years now and since the beginning of the COVID 19 crisis, our daily life has been marked by such hazards. It is therefore our mission to think about the right balance between domestic and international applicants in order to achieve our objectives as part of the strong ambitions promoted by our school.
What are your goals for the completion of the strategic plan, within the scope of the ECOS plan?
By the end of the strategic plan, our ambition for Audencia is to strengthen our collaborative positions to be more present and visible in Europe. This development is also in line with our CSR strategy, both from a carbon footprint viewpoint and a social responsibility perspective.
Indeed, it is a reality: not everyone is able to go to the other side of the world, so it is up to us to work on providing the best international experience for everyone. Our vision for 2025 is to be as strong in Europe as we currently are in China or Brazil. Our second objective for 2025 is to offer a genuinely immersive international cultural experience to all our students. We want our students to experience life abroad as if they were locals and not as simple ex-patriates on a trip.
What are your CSR commitments?
The CSR approach is at the heart of all our activities and a key element in our eyes in our development. This year, this was reflected in the geographical study opportunities and success encountered regarding the involvement of many stakeholders, particularly in South Africa, with a strong social component for ever greater inclusion. This was also reflected in the launch of our new campus in São Paulo. With this site in Brazil, students are given the opportunity to have a high-impact academic exchange, in particular through participation in societal projects, such as helping children in the country’s favela shantytowns or collaborating on certain initiatives with local NGOs.
However, the main aspect in this CSR approach that is important to us is to finally succeed in promoting internationalisation at home, which we have been offering for many years at Audencia. Via exchanges but also videoconferences with professors or international students from the four corners of the earth, students are already having an incredible immersive international cultural and societal experience. This part, which many tend to underestimate, is totally inclusive. Above all, it allows a rapid rise in skills and value and it has an impact within and outside the school. Our wish in this case is clearly not to turn our backs on all our travel but to enhance the total and transversal international experience that we offer to our students so that they can experience multi-culturalism in all its dimensions and in all our regions.
AURÉLIE LEVEQUE
Director of International Affairs
Focus on the partnership with TSIBA
“Among the highlights of this year, I would like to focus on the partnership signed between Audencia and TSIBA, which has benefitted the geographical study opportunities of students on the Grande Ecole programme. As a member of the United Nations (UN) and a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), TSIBA, a business school in Cape Town in South Africa, operates thanks to private funds exclusively and provides full tuition, books and breakfast to their students from the townships. With the shared values of inclusion and the desire for social transition, our two institutions joined forces and the first group from Audencia was able to travel to TSIBA in autumn 2022 (the Fall 2022 programme). It involved a total immersion (because our 9 students were the only international students there) and a strong human adventure through an incredible intercultural experience. At the heart of this partnership, which is still in its infancy, there is no lack of wonderful stories. Apolline Faber, a student at Audencia, is a perfect illustration. Driven by the dynamism of the deserving young people attending TSIBA and thanks to Entrepreneurship and Digital Marketing courses taken there, Apolline created her own start-up during her stay in Cape Town. Through remote incubation mentoring provided by Sébastien Ronteau at Audencia, her web site has been on-line since December, which goes to show that a magnificent collaboration is possible between TSIBA and Audencia today and in the coming years.”
