Located on the quaint Avenue Saint-Martin, perched on a cliff edge, the imposing museum’s ostentatious façade looks like the result of Poseidon dabbling in the art of sculpture.
On the International University of Monaco’s MSc in International Management program, students learn through the core Management, Leadership, and Ethics module—those who specialize in international management in semester two can focus on Global Policy and Sustainability.
Outside the classroom, the partnership with the oceanographic museum consolidates their learning—“we developed it so students actually get experience in the field; the museum wanted to transfer the idea of ocean protection to future generations,” explains program director Marjorie Bertschy.
Students work to produce a digital communications strategy for the museum to help them translate the message of environmental protection—the most important aspect of the partnership, according to Marjorie.
We are entering a brand new business epoch—we can’t produce and manufacture how we did in the past. The environmental consequences of negligence are being laid bare for all to see around the globe.
From now on, entrepreneurship and the creation of business has to be done with a conscience.
At the International University of Monaco, students on the MSc in International Management program take classes in a new wave of smart business topics geared towards preparing graduates for the future.
They study Innovation Management, New Business Models, and Entrepreneurship—in which a key element is ‘how to create a sustainable business.’
Shared value, the idea that companies need to act in a socially, environmentally, and economically sensible manner, is also a prominent ideology surfacing in today’s business world.
Indeed, Marjorie explains that multinational companies have been actively forced into changing the way their internal operations are run to accommodate a more sustainable business strategy.
On Monaco’s MSc in International Management, the students themselves are able to concoct their own sustainable corporate strategy through the school’s MARK Challenge—a business pitching competition exclusive to the university.
The entrepreneurial spirit enacted by the competition goes hand-in-hand with the requirement that each strategy contains a charity or CSR element.
“Originally, students were developing business plans and at the end, there may have been a charity element,” Marjorie explains. “But after four years, the social responsibility element is a lot more integrated from the beginning of the plan. So, they have changed the way they do business.”
In today’s economy, to launch a business or adapt internal strategy without considering the environmental, social, and economic factors that tie into that is almost unthinkable—the new generation, says Marjorie, is constantly immersed in that way of thinking.
Among them, Solene Baque, a current student on the MSc in International Management, specializing in Major Global Policy and Sustainability.
“IUM is not only a business school,” she says, “it’s a place that really shows the importance of sustainability and responsible leadership.”
Currently volunteering as a project manager for InterActions and Solidarity—an NGO in Monaco that focuses on projects to improve the living conditions of local communities in Kenya—Solene says it’s vital that humanitarian, social, and sustainable responsibility is at the core of IUM.
“The school really prepares you for entering the market,” she concludes. “You really need to be open-minded; to be able to collaborate with others in small groups, and understand the importance of conducting business with a conscience.”
The International University of Monaco’s partnerships are a major attraction for students. Another, with the MonacoTech Incubator opened in November, saw a student land a job with Kee Systems—a company born out of the incubator.
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