Engaging in an impact project 

GIPs offer EDHEC students enrolled on the Master in Management or BBA programmes the unique opportunity to validate their international experience by taking part in high-impact projects. Supported by the School’s UNESCO Chair, these projects allow students to engage for a semester in NGOs or not-for profit associations as volunteers out in the field. These experiences, deliberately focused on social solidarity initiatives and designed to open minds, transform students’ vision of the world while also developing their emotional intelligence and resilience. The projects also enable students to obtain a Global Impact Projects certificate from the School and to earn credits (30 ECTS for BBA students) or validate the summer internship in the Pre-Master.
To implement these GIPs, EDHEC works with a network of partners like Acted, an NGO specialised in helping communities in crisis situations, the All Hands and Hearts not-for-profit association which works with communities hit by natural catastrophes, and educational institutions like SPJIMR.

SPJIMR, an academic partner of choice 

SPJIMR is a management school – India’s leading private business school and the country’s 7th business school overall – that places a particular emphasis on combining management teaching with a focus on issues of society. For almost five years now, SPJIMR has been hosting EDHEC students on academic exchanges. In addition, over 30 years ago the Indian school set up the Development of Corporate Citizenship (DoCC) programme, led by Dr Chandrika Parma, President of the Indian section of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). The DoCC arranges mandatory missions for the programme’s students, in NGOs or humanitarian associations, and related to issues such as access to drinking water, the right to education or male-female inequality. As part of the Global Impact Projects programme, EDHEC and SPJIMR extended their partnership, so as to enable EDHEC students to benefit from the DoCC’s network of partner organisations and also from SPJIMR’s expertise, and thus ultimately to understand the social and societal challenges inherent to India.    

Understanding the specifics of a region 

Before starting their GIP, EDHEC students who choose to engage on a project in India receive a week of classes from SPJIMR focusing on societal issues specific to India. They also get to meet not-for-profit sector professionals and take part in visits aligned with their GIP. In Mumbai, Sonia Gastaud, Head of Global Impact & Mobility Programmes and in charge of GIPs, went to visit several DoCC partners, including OM Créations Trust: “During this trip to India, I realised that SPJIMR is one of the Indian management schools most heavily engaged in the social sector. Its DoCC programmes – currently led by Chandrika Parma – have influenced thousands of students to act to improve Indian society. I also had the chance to meet the programme team and Varun Nagaraj, the Dean of SPJIMR, an institution with which EDHEC shares an “impact” vision. Over a semester, this partnership will confront students with the practical reality of India, its history and culture, and also its sizeable inequalities (economic, social). GIPs notably offer our students the chance to work in humanitarian associations or NGOs like OM Creations Trust, a not-for-profit that helps handicapped persons achieve autonomy through educational programmes and professional training.”