Excelia Business School addresses the issue of WATER to amplify the effectiveness of its commitment to the urgent challenges of ecological and social transition
Following a process of reflection, which began 18 months ago, and consultation with all its stakeholders, Excelia Business School has chosen Water as its additional focus of commitment and innovation in order to raise awareness and act for the ecological and social transition.
A shared commitment in line with Excelia's mission
Water… an important commitment shared by Excelia’s communities
18 months ago, research‐active Faculty at Excelia Business School identified the key issues associated with water as part of a series of workshops designed to strengthen Excelia’s action in the field of ecological transition. This finding is shared by the IPCC report of March 2023, which points out that one in two people in the world is already suffering from water shortages. It also stated that with global warming in excess of 1.5°C, chronic water shortages could affect up to 4 billion people, 8% of land will become unsuitable for farming by the end of the century, and 1 billion people will live in coastal areas at risk by 2050.
With this in mind, and to enable all its stakeholders (students, employees, research‐active Faculty, companies, graduates) to take part in this process of reflection, Excelia launched a large‐scale consultation. More than 15,000 contributions confirmed a keen interest in the topic of water as a major issue in the ecological transition. This choice has also been validated by Excelia’s governance.
- An enhanced pedagogical offer: the Blue Education Experience
- Dedicated research with an open approach to other disciplines
- An exemplary approach on its campuses
The consultation: 'Excelia Tomorrow"
- Water management is one of the Top 5 challenges of the ecological transition
- A high level of concern: 3.01 on a scale of 1 to 4
Several challenges identified:
- For 63%: improving water management (reducing consumption, increasing collection, limiting unnecessary waste, etc.)
- For 47%: protecting water quality, in particular preserving sensitive areas such as the oceans, and reducing pollution
- For 37%: access to water for all
Blue Education Experience… Enhanced educational opportunities
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A unique initiative by Excelia Business School
The Blue Education Experience is an educational project aimed at exploring the ecological and social transition using water as a focal point. As one of the most visible indicators of global warming, Excelia Business School considers water as a means of raising awareness of the challenges of global warming and the need for economic, organisational, social, and ecological transitions. The aim of Excelia
Business School’s latest educational initiative is to ensure students have a better understanding of the complexity of the issues involved and to enable them to develop a positive approach to action to help them identify solutions for change.
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Digital technology to raise student awareness
In line with the group’s strategy of digitalising its teaching, Excelia Business School will be supplementing lessons with a number of new features, including the following:
- A metaverse entitled Blue ILE, focussing on the responsible management of water and understanding the challenges of climate change linked to this precious resource (2023/24).
- The Ecosphere United Nations immersive learning experience, which will be incorporated into lessons (2023‐2024).
- Digital Learning capsules, being developed to disseminate knowledge and raise awareness among all the school’s students on the challenges of the ecological and social transition, with a focus on water‐related issues and, in particular, SDG n° 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG n° 14 (Life below Water). Four capsules to be available at the start of the 2023 academic year, and a further 6 in environmental sciences and management to follow in 2024‐2025.
- The AXA Climate platform, with some 100 scientific research publications on the ecological transition, to be incorporated into our pedagogical activities.
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Experiential learning through tangible actions
To enable students to experience real‐life situations, Excelia Business School’s experiential initiatives will explore the theme of water:
- Compulsory Consultancy Projects for undergraduate Year 3 and postgraduate Year 1 students
- Environmental (Climacité © ) and social (Humacité© ) initiatives, with a target of 10% of projects being water‐related by 2025
- Internships, Learning Expeditions, and company projects to enable students to explore a wide range of water‐related issues
