BEYOND COMPETITION
The commitment of Belgian management schools' academics
for the common good
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In a world marked by geopolitical instability and ecological degradation, Management Schools have a historic responsibility. They must take the measure of the challenges weighing on all generations, and act without delay to help leaders and managers transform organisations with a view to a more sustainable world. In short, they must help their various audiences to provide concrete answers to today's challenges whenever they are in a position to act.
We, scholars from ICHEC, Louvain School of Management / UCLouvain, Department of Management / UAntwerpen, Faculteit Economie en Bedrijfskunde / UGent, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management / ULB, Haute Ecole de Gestion / ULiège, Faculté Waroqué d’Economie et de Gesion / UMons, Business Department / VUB, have decided to join forces to develop common knowledge and practices for our stakeholders (students, corporate partners, sta and Alumni) with the aim of: creating a lasting societal impact, offering a high level of professionalism on issues of Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability (ERS) as well as on Impact Projects, and finally shaping enlightened and enlightening leaders for today and tomorrow.
In concrete terms, the ‘Beyond Competition’ project strives to encourage collaboration between Belgian Universities and University Colleges, through their respective Schools of Management. Under this flag, projects are launched to target Master students, PhD candidates, Alumni as well as Executives in general. In this context, the partners taking part in the project have agreed upon the following principles:
1. To launch projects designed to strengthen our actions and our impact in the field of environmental and social sustainability.
2. To act jointly and concretely through bilateral and/or multilateral initiatives: in this area more than in others, it is important to increase our ability to work together and learn from each other.
3. To situate our actions at the level of teaching programmes and/or courses with, if necessary, research
extensions.
4. To strengthen the links between partners on both sides of the language border.
The commitment of the Belgian Management Schools allows the partners to scale up their efforts by sharing knowledge and ensuring transformative actions for a sustainable society.
FOUR CONCRETE PROJECTS
We turn this commitment into action through four concrete projects for Master students, PhDs, Alumni and Executives.
A LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE
Rather than duplicating existing initiatives, this project aims to build upon and extend a number of initiatives. With existing international networks (e.g: PRME), we seek to ensuring greater impact and reach. For instance, at LSM, the Philippe de Woot Chair in Corporate Sustainable Management already offers ERS initiatives, with a Philippe de Woot Major, an annual dissertation prize, and a MOOC on sustainable development.
Our long-term vision is to facilitate similar initiatives into a broader academic framework, encouraging course-sharing and cross-fertilization across institutions, particularly at Master, Doctoral, Alumni and Executive levels:
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Our impact on sustainability finds its source in a diverse pool of talents and skills. By transcending languages and institutions, sharing common ERS and Impact Projects, and offering new ways of training for our Master and PhD students, our project aims to address the urgent need of a more sustainable society.
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We are also fully aware that academia is part of a multipolar world and that such an initiative cannot be conceived as disconnected from our Alumni associations. We therefore give opportunities to support the exchanges of good practices and develop new partnerships between its members across partner institutions, by linking them beyond competition.
ACTING TOGETHER FOR A TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH
Through this commitment, we are determined to act for the common good not only through course or research contents but also through our attitude, by gathering initiatives and promoting collective action. Through this mission statement, we position ourselves as actors of a more sustainable and responsible future, ensuring that the next generation is equipped with the skillset, mindset, and values to address the necessary transformative changes.