The spirit of discovery, a driver of the EDHEC association experience

Committing to a team project

Associations are an important component of the overall experience gained by students during their time at the School. Student association members devote several hours a week to their project: “they can be surprised by the amount of work they’re called on to do”, explains Nicolas Flaszenski, Associative Engagement & Diversity Officer at EDHEC, on the Lille campus. “Association projects require a high degree of commitment, particularly when they involve organising large-scale events, such as the Festival du Cinéma européen de Lille, devoted to short films and supervised by the Prix de Court, association, or the OJO, omnisport games that bring together students from several business schools”.   

Similarly to companies, all EDHEC associations are organised into different “sections” (management, communication, organisational social responsibility (OSR)). “This allows all students to capitalise on their skills or acquire new ones”, underlines Nicolas Flaszenski. In the association context, students develop maturity and learn to put aside their affinities or differences: “it’s an experience that forges team spirit and a sense of engagement, and it’s often aligned with solidarity issues”, specifies Lydia Nicollet, Student Life and Solidarity Officer on the Nice campus. “For example, several EDHEC student associations are involved in the Cordées de la Réussite programme*, including the Rhetorica, association, which supports upper secondary school students originating from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, by helping them to improve their ability to express themselves orally and to speak in public.”

Providing all-round support

Working full-time to support student associations, Lydia Nicollet and Nicolas Flaszenski are the prime points of contact for students on the Nice and Lille campuses: “I work with students on several levels”, underlines Nicolas Flaszenski. “Firstly, I deal with administrative matters. With EDHEC student associations being governed by France’s Law of 1901, there are numerous documents to be completed and to have approved, not just by the Prefect’s Office, but also by the School (such as accreditation dossiers or requests for subsidies for OSR projects). I then help them with the organisation of their events (over 350 a year on the Lille campus), particularly with the logistical aspects (available resources, scheduling, etc.), but also in terms of coordinating with the different EDHEC teams (Sports department, EDHEC Alumni, Legal department)."

Nicolas Flaszenski and Lydia Nicollet also ensure international students are well integrated into associations: “International students want to fully engage in association life”, emphasises Lydia Nicollet. At the start of the year, during training sessions for association presidents, we stress one of the key roles of associations, namely that of “fostering synergies between all students”. “We urge all associations to involve students from all programmes and from all nationalities, so as to enrich their teams”, explains Nicolas Flaszenski. “To co-ordinate this action on the Lille and Nice campuses, EDHEC works with the BDE (guild of students), the TOTAL EDHEC ENTREPRENDRE, association and also Open Up an association that helps to integrate international students, particularly by organising numerous get-togethers both on and off campus”. 

Acquiring new skills

Throuh their experience in associations, students have the chance to learn new professional skills or develop existing ones in areas such as marketing, management, finance or consultancy, whether in dedicated sections or in specialist associations like CITECOM, the junior advertising agency, EDFIN,one of the finance associations based on the Nice campus, or EDHEC Junior Études, the EDHEC junior consultancy. In addition, at the start of each academic year, association presidents attend a series of training sessions over two days (law, communication, first aid, organisational social responsibility, etc.), designed to given them a better understanding of their new functions.

More particularly, back in 2020, the Student Life department initiated a project to support EDHEC’s network of associations in pursuing an OSR approach. In 2022, all of the School’s associations joined a department devoted to OSR. To grasp the subject, students are supported by specialists, whether EDHEC experts, like CSR Officer Cécile Legrand, or external professionals such as Kathleen Boquet, an ecological transition consultant, who has set up a coaching programme in conjunction with the Student Life department. The programme includes comprehensive training in OSR, as well as monthly support in the form of group sessions on related subjects, rounded out by individual sessions designed to help participants develop their own strategy. As Nicolas Flaszenski explains: “throughout the year, students are called on to tackle OSR from different angles, not just in terms of strategy, by analysing the association’s overall project from the standpoint of responsibility, but also in more operational terms, for example, by finding kilometre-zero caterers for events, pooling equipment between associations, sharing contacts for zero-waste providers, etc.”  

Broadening horizons

At EDHEC, association life is designed to provide a complementary experience to academic training: “By joining an association, students discover a way of living and working together, engage in a collaborative project, improve their decision-making ability and develop their sense of responsibility”, underlines Nicolas Flaszenski. “Depending upon their role, they notably learn to co-ordinate a team in a respectful and intelligent way. To this end, at the start of the academic year, all EDHEC association members sign the charter for accredited associations, a document that governs the life of these structures and sets out the rights, duties and obligations that come with accreditation”. As explained by Lydia Nicollet, the experience gained in associations also enables students to extend the projects worked on as part of the School’s academic programmes: “In Nice, numerous Sustainable Impact Projects** have endured and evolved into EDHEC student associations focused on societal issues, such as  Dare to Start, a project encouraging social entrepreneurship, or Just Sea It, a Nice-based association working to safeguard the seabed”.

EDHEC also stands out for the sheer number of its associations: “I’d find it hard to name a subject that was not covered by an EDHEC association,” says Nicolas Flaszenski. “Some of them focus on sport, culture or humanitarian actions, while others are centred on more specific interests like wine appreciation or promoting the culture of a country or region. The experience gained in associations gives students the chance to explore subjects from a different perspective.”

* A programme run throughout France, Les Cordées de la Réussite aims to provide youngsters with support when making their educational and career choices and thus to foster genuine equal opportunities. The programme seeks to develop a can-do attitude and to foster educational ambition in school pupils, by providing a continuum of support from the third year of secondary school to higher education.

** Sustainable Impact Projects (SIPs) are practical cases designed for first-year BBA students. They focus on issues related to one of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.