These establishments are more and more numerous, under the pressure of their students, to integrate the ecological transition into their curriculum. A ranking, published Thursday, November 3, rewards the most advanced.
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Things are moving on the side of the grandes écoles: they no longer want to do “destructive” jobs and intend to contribute to the ecological transition. Students no longer want to join companies that are harmful to the planet: this movement of students from major business and engineering schools was born in 2019 with the Student Manifesto for an ecological awakening. Since then, it has continued to grow and structure itself. The students even held three “COPs” to advance their ideas.
The big schools received the message and very quickly, according to Santiago Lefebvre, CEO and founder of ChangeNOW, organizers of events in this theme. Last year, a first ranking of the schools most committed to ecological transition was published. It had a big impact. This is the second ranking that is published Thursday, November 3, in partnership with The echoes, Start and the Deloitte firm. It assesses how schools are responding to this fundamental movement that is going through students, who are therefore asking to be trained differently, to be better prepared by their schools to play a role in the ecological transition.
Santiago Lefebvre details, for example, a practice that has developed everywhere. During the first week of student integration, we devote one or two days to the climate issue. HEC, for example, took its students to see the Mer de Glace, in Chamonix, to see its regression. A way of giving the “la” to the course. Beyond the symbol, it’s a whole change of software that must take place. It is no longer a question of erecting the maximization of profits as the criterion of success, but of valuing other models of professional success. And, of course, to disseminate this theme of ecological transition in all the subjects taught.
Among engineering schools, it is THENational School of Water and Environmental Engineering (Engees) of Strasbourg which comes first, followed by the Ecole centrale de Lyon and theHigher Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Isae Supaero) from Toulouse. And among business schools, the first is the École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commercial (Essec), followed by the Montpellier Business School and the‘Management School (EM) Lyon in third place.