A team of 16 students driven by a common cause

A few weeks ago, Montpellier Business School students obtained the license to create TEDxMontpellierBS, an association to organize a series of independent conferences with the aim of disseminating impactful ideas around 3 themes: feminism, ecology and History.

Lucile, a final year student of the Grande Ecole Program and part of the team that saw the birth of the project explains: “The aim of these conferences is to communicate ideas around contemporary issues that concern the greatest number. These three themes are linked to the values ​​we share with the school: CSR and diversity.”

A representative team of students of all Montpellier Business School programs was then formed. This was best explained by Jules, the final year student who initiated the project: “We organized our task force around a group of 16 students with complementary skills: from digital to entrepreneurship through human resources. We will be recruiting a 17^th member soon to complete the communications team.”

• Are you a student at Montpellier Business School and wish to participate in the organization of this event? You can contact the team at the following address: tedxmontpellierbs@gmail.com

Building a community for the April 8^th, 2020 event

Built as a start-up, the TEDxMontpellierBS association is now stepping up its actions in preparation for the event of April 8^th, 2020, during which a dozen inspiring conferences lasting fifteen minutes will take place. Jules thus left for the United States to participate in the TEDWomen event: “I had the opportunity to participate in several training workshops to recruit speakers as well as possible and thus organize a real experience for participants on D-Day.”

Jules adds, “The goal was also to get a start in the TED community. It is not a question of enriching its network, but of really making meetings with the common objective of disseminating culture and information.”

Pending the opening of the ticket office in mid-February, the TEDxMontpellierBS team is still recruiting a few speakers and sponsors. To follow all of their news, go to:

• On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tedxmontpellierbs/
• On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tedxmontpelliermbs/

TED Circles: a new concept of debates led by the Apostrophe association

Manon, president of the Apostrophe association of Montpellier Business School, an association that promotes debate and eloquence on campus, explains: “TED Circles is the new concept of TED and aims to meet in a small group around a TED video, then to debate on the ideas put forward. “

 The first edition took place on Tuesday January 7^th and brought together the first participants around the theme of “the future”. “The debates focused on education, responsibility and intergenerational issues. Everyone was able to discuss their life goal, their relationship with risk taking and the heritage they wish to transmit to future generations. »Concludes Manon.

To follow up on the success of this first edition, the two associations are preparing the next TED Circles meetings while awaiting the new conferences on April 8^th.

Montpellier Business School hosted the 5th edition of the Interviews of Excellence

On Saturday December 14^th, Montpellier Business School had the honour of hosting the 5^th edition of the Interviews of Excellence in Montpellier, an event built around exchanges with professionals from all sectors and aimed at young high school people, especially those coming from cultural, territorial and social diversity.

This new edition on the Montpellier Business School campus brought together more than 400 students, 20 student volunteers from Montpellier Business School and 50 professionals around 15 round tables representing a wide range of possible sectors: culture, marketing, health, digital, security, sport, law…

“The idea is to avoid forcing an orientation on young people and let them choose their path”

Sander de Souza, medical intern totalling more than 20 editions as a speaker, says: “The goal is to restore students’ confidence, to show them that nothing is impossible, and therefore to give a boost to those who have lost the motivation to continue their studies. “The main idea is to let them choose their own path,” adds Nadia Allali, Deputy Principal at Jean-Mermoz high school in Montpellier.

For many students, these interviews are a way to better choose paths to pursue. “There are no taboo issues,” explains Abdallah Ould Brahim of the Interviews of Excellence Association. “The idea for the speakers is that they sincerely share their passion but also their failures because they are the ones who punctuate the courses and this shows this new generation that excellence is not limited to success but that it is the materialization of actions to rebound in the face of difficulty.”

Fighting self-censorship through testimony

“Hosting this event on campus is fundamental to the school’s equal opportunities policy”, explains Benjamin Ferran, Diversity and CSR Manager. “For many of these young people, just the idea of ​​coming to the Montpellier Business School campus was out of reach. Today the goal is to advise and encourage students who would like to take a course of excellence but who do not dare, often out of ignorance of the means of access or support. “

During the “Commerce, Marketing and Communication” round table, a large number of students discovered the concept of work-study and in particular its compatibility with studies in a Grande Ecole. Benjamin Ferran adds: “At Montpellier Business School, more than 1,300 students choose the work-study program to professionalize, boost their employability and thus pay no tuition fees.”

A gourmet idea born of a moment of sharing between students

Sofía and Santiago are two Argentine lawyers, specialists in business law who arrived in Montpellier a year ago to continue their studies in the Montpellier Business School “Grande Ecole” Program. “We were working in a law firm when we decided to breathe new life into our career and start our own business. The project was still very vague. The international dimension was already trotting in our heads, but we did not think at all to create a business of culinary specialties,” explains Santiago.

It is during a multicultural meeting between students of Montpellier Business School that Sofía and Santiago presented an Argentinean specialty: the Alfajores. “All of our friends found it tasty and original and suggested to us to build an Alfajores company in Montpellier,” says Sofía.

A launch strategy supported by Montpellier Business School

In the second year of the Grande Ecole Program, the two Argentineans participated in a business creation simulation during the entrepreneurial module. “This is where the project was born. Through this serious game, we managed to draw the guidelines of our future company and to build a real Business Model. “

The couple’s young project pursued the implementation of their “Station Sucrée” company at the Montpellier Business School Entrepreneurship Centre, the school’s incubator. “We were supported by the Chamber of Trades in the creation, certification and administration of our company,” explains Sofía. Today, Station Sucrée has an office within the school to advance in their development throughout the gap year of the two students.

Sofía & Santiago have also decided to integrate other students into the adventure: “Our marketing consultant is also a student of the school, in the final year of the Grande Ecole Program and brings complementary skills to ours,” says Santiago.

Like Montpellier Business School, join the start-up’s network of partners

This is what Sofia had to say: “Station Sucrée is growing day by day, and of course, we grow and learn with it. If there is any advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, it’s taking the time to develop a finished product before marketing. The key lies in micro-launches of tests, which allow you to not over expose your concepts but that are valuable in return for the customer experience. “

Station Sucrée continues its development and is always looking for new partners:

• Click here to discover their products and partners.
• You can also follow their adventure on Instagram.

180 hours of lessons in a week given by 12 specialists from all over the world

During this International Week, students were invited to participate in 12 modules delivered by teachers-researchers from foreign universities, partners of Montpellier Business School, giving them a taste of the international academic exchange experience.

“The objective of these modules is to immerse students in the concept of inter-culturalism,” says Dr. Sandhya Sastry, Professor-researcher at the University of Northampton (England). “In this course, we start from a business issue that is familiar to them: import/export and we modal the establishment of a company in another country. This allows students to think about how to adapt an offer to a new population while respecting its culture and way of functioning.”

A week full of festivities and sharing with students

Throughout the week, conferences are offered to prepare students for their international exchange year: “visa applications, the choice of cities, universities, it is still quite complicated to plan ahead. So, this type of conference allows us to make a first filter in the construction of our track” says Nicolas, a student in the Grande Ecole Program.

The week ended on a very festive note co-organized with the international students of Montpellier Business School, during which students from more than 70 different countries shared their culinary specialties and some information about their national heritage. This moment of sharing ended with a show of dances and songs that was very much appreciated by Montpellier Business School students and staff. If you were unable to attend this exchange moment, find the photo album here.

The family of international academic partners is growing

On Thursday, November 28^th, amidst the International Week of Montpellier Business School, a new academic cooperation agreement was inaugurated with Asia University, College of Management Taipei, in the presence of students wishing to pursue their studies in an international academic exchange program.

“This agreement underlines the mutual trust between our two institutions and underpins our partnership around 4 axes: a collaboration in research, the possibility of obtaining a double degree for students in the Bachelor Program, the possibility of obtaining a double degree for students in the Grande Ecole Program and the opening of an academic exchange program between students during their studies.” explains Dr. Yvon Desportes, Director of International Academic Relations.

In 2018, the unemployment rate of people with disabilities is 19%, while it is 9% for the total labour force. This observation underlines the importance of making companies aware of responsible recruitment for a better professional integration. Based on the values ​​of diversity and inclusion, Montpellier Business School is committed to training future responsible recruiters, and to making the necessary adjustments to the professional development of all its employees.

Guaranteeing professional integration through access to higher education

Nadège Ortiz-Boris says: “Today, only 1% of young people with disabilities have a “Bac +5” degree. To move the lines, we must act against the self-censorship of these young middle and high school students.“

Montpellier Business School has set up actions upstream of its courses whose objective is to develop self-esteem among these young people. “Since 2012, in partnership with the FEDEEH, the school has rolled out the PHARES program (which stands for “Beyond Disability Advancing and Succeeding in Higher Education”); 40 young people were accompanied by 45 tutors to participate in activities whose goal is to lift this self-censorship.“

Adapt education conditions and facilitate professionalization

Montpellier Business School puts everything in place so that disability does not hinder the smooth running of studies. “The campus is fully adapted to any form of motor disability. In addition, disability referrals are trained in each school’s educational department to offer schooling and examinations.” Nadège adds.

Finally, in addition to the traditional professionalization tools (Career Centre, Entrepreneurship Centre), students have the opportunity to participate in specialized recruitment forums (internship offers, work-study contracts, open-ended contracts and fixed-term contracts), co-organized with the FEDEEH.

Personalized follow-up for Montpellier Business School employees

Montpellier Business School pays particular attention to the entire integration process. From the selection of applications and as required by the diversity label held by Montpellier Business School for 10 years now, recruitment is based solely on business skills, linguistic and behavioural and can lead to a process of adapting the position to the profile of the candidate.

This support resulted in the signing of the first disability agreements in July 2018 and was formalized by the appointment of a dedicated equality coordinator: Nadège Ortiz-Boris. “We carry out regular individual interviews with the employees and managers, to support employees in adapting to the job, their career and their well-being within Montpellier Business School.”

To be recognized to fight against the bias

Nadège recognizes that “very often, there is a certain shyness or embarrassment to be recognized as a worker with disabilities. These workers may be afraid of being stigmatized or sometimes minimizing their situation by thinking that their colleagues may be in worse situations. Nevertheless, there is a real interest in being recognized as a worker with a disability. First of all to guarantee a good development of the position and the working time but especially to improve the visibility on the handicap and to validate by the example that it is not a brake on good performance. “

Montpellier Business School therefore plans in the coming months to multiply projects to give a better visibility to disability, actions that will also materialize throughout the construction of the future campus. In parallel, the school supports all solidarity initiatives, starting with the 20km race in Montpellier that will take place this Sunday and whose funds will be donated to Handisport. Good luck to all collaborators and students!

2019 graduation ceremony replay

The Grande Ecole and Bachelor Programmes graduation ceremony has been held this Saturday 7^th of December at the Zenith Sud in Montpellier. A moving and solemn moment in front of over 3500 people.

MBS offered the opportunity to those who could not come to the Zenith the chance to follow the ceremony live and on video on the Youtube page of Montpellier Business School.

But that is not all ! For even more interactions, the graduation ceremony has been commented on Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #MBSGraduate.

• See Graduation Ceremony Album
• See Bachelor Programme Graduation Ceremony Album
• See Grande Ecole Programme Graduation Ceremony Album
• See photocall Album

The importance of sharing experience

This Tuesday, October 30^th, the campus had the honour of hosting an after work organized by the Entrepreneurship Social & Inclusion Chair and the ADIE association to reveal the “Entrepreneur” talents of the region. “Hosting this type of meeting is fundamental for Montpellier Business School because it touches the school’s core values ​​of equal opportunity and social entrepreneurship,” explains Bruno Ducasse, General Manager of Montpellier Business School.

For Anne Le Bissonnais, project manager for the young local mission of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole, sharing experience is essential: “the more we will make women testify to say that entrepreneurship is possible, the more we will tend towards a balance of representation Female -Male among the entrepreneurs, “she explains.

These inspiring portraits were shared in two masterclasses and were rich in feedback and useful advice for any entrepreneur or apprentice.

Prioritize: “hold on to what’s important, and let go of the rest”

The after work started with the intervention of the godmother of the event, Marianne Aya Omac, artist and entrepreneur from the region. “If I had any advice to give to potential entrepreneurs, it is to hold on to what is important and to let go of the rest. As long as we resist a problem, we just feed it and create tension. The real quality of entrepreneurship is not to resist problems. Instead, they must be accepted and considered as events rather than obstacles”.

To know how to play down, let go of the guilt and analyse

One of the goals of this after work was to desecrate entrepreneurship. “We must stop with the image of the entrepreneur who has no life outside of his work. Being a company manager does not mean that you have to spend 12 hours a day at your office to have good results “explains Bénédicte Laurent, founder of Namae Concept.

“Of course, sometimes the personal and professional spheres collide. But the main thing is not to blame yourself for what you do not do for one or the other. It is important to know how to analyse oneself, not forgetting oneself and therefore understanding one’s expectations and one’s relationship with success, money, the role one wants to play in a company and within one’s family.” She completes.

Know how to surround yourself

Emma Nganleu, founder of Reflex Happy, emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurial support when starting a business: “Talking about your project means discovering questions you have not asked yourself. This is the reason why the entourage and associations like Adie have a fundamental role in the launching of a project. “

Within Montpellier Business School, the Entrepreneurship Social & Inclusion Chair has set itself the goal of supporting and training the people furthest from employment in the creation of companies and in particular companies of the ESS.

To learn more about the Entrepreneurship Social & Inclusion Chair, click here.

Develop your soft skills and learn to express yourself in public

Last week was punctuated by the Work me up program of the Montpellier Business School Career Centre, an accompanying action whose goal is to develop students’ soft skills. “Empathy, stress management, cognitive flexibility, or the ability to step back are qualities that allow today’s candidate to differentiate themselves during an interview,” explains Laurence Flinois, Director of the Career Centre at Montpellier Business School.

During this program, students from the Grande Ecole Program had the opportunity to exchange with Stéphane De Freitas, director of the film “À voix haute: La Force de la parole” and designer of Eloquencia, a public expression program during which candidates are offered a training and a contest in “eloquence”. “The goal is to teach students to market themselves in a pitch “, says Laurence Flinois.

The three steps to speak in public

After confronting the student with the difficulty of speaking in front of an entire amphitheatre, Stéphane De Freitas was able to deliver the three stages of understanding the art of eloquence. “The first step is to accept the feeling caused by the duty to speak in public: anxiety, excitement, frustration … This very negative feeling is a weapon, it initiates the process of sincerity.”

“The second step is the structuring of the speech. If we do not know where we are going, we get lost in our words. The structure supports a strong argument. Finally, the last step is verbalization. Here, the advice is simple: you have to use your own words, your own vocabulary. Everyone has a voice, everyone has their own words, and it is this verbalization that will make your identity and therefore the difference. “

The eloquence to learn how to present your projects to an audience

Stéphane De Freitas gave some advice to students to learn how to pitch a project in front of an audience. “The body is a real support for dialogue. The hands can be an asset to punctuate our words. If one chooses to describe a thought process, it may be interesting to move from right to left on the platform, provided that breaks are made. These are the little rules that can make the difference. “

Having become an important stage in secondary education, eloquence also lives on the campus of Montpellier Business School thanks to the students of the association club Apostrophe, where you can soon follow some interesting debates.

The MOOC Diversity: the result of collaboration between researchers

As part of the Organizations’ Corporate Social Responsibility Day organized by IAE University of Montpellier, the MOOC Diversity: “Inclusion Diversity Inmotion” was inaugurated and marks a step forward in the training of responsible executives, able to support inclusion to maintain sustainable performance over time.

The particularity of this MOOC piloted by Dr Marion Polge from the University of Montpellier: it is the result of collaboration between teachers and researchers from several institutions. Thus, Montpellier Business School was able to participate in the co-construction of this training tool 2.0 thanks to the intervention of the VOAR research group. The Montpellier Business School research professors Dr Magalie Marais, Dr Cédrine Joly, Dr Maryline Meyer and Dr Mélanie Jaeck had the opportunity to take part in several video modules. “Cooperation in research is fundamental and is all the more facilitated when the subject touches on contemporary issues and our values,” explains Dr Magalie Marais.

A training for managers built around crossed views

The MOOC format allows any individual to follow online training at their own pace. This tool is therefore perfectly adaptable to today’s executives’ schedules and targets positions of responsibility: “The subject of diversity and inclusion must be brought to the attention of team managers” explains Dr Magalie Marais.

The MOOC “Inclusion Diversity Inmotion” revolves around a program starting from the definitions and the legal context of the company, then going through the various policies in action, the notion of discrimination and inclusion, to conclude on the conversion of these notions as a tool of performance and competitive advantage. It mixes the theory with professional testimonials in order to transfer the good practices to the managers: “at the end of this training, the participant takes part in a complex managerial simulation using all the notions covered during the MOOC which allows him / her to confront a concrete case of diversity management“, concludes Dr Magalie Marais.

In line with the strong performance of 2017, the academic results of the Montpellier Business School faculty in 2018 confirm a sustained increase in the number and rank of scientific publications. Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, Doctor David Roubaud draws up and analyses this assessment.

2017 was already rich in publications for teachers-researchers of Montpellier Business School, what assessment can you draw from the academic results obtained in 2018?

We continue to experience a great improvement in the academic results and we are as much in quantity as in quality with many rank 1 publications. We have also continued the recruitment of international professors of very high level and coming from great institutions and today 60% of the Montpellier Business School faculty is international, which corresponds to our desire for internationalization.

In terms of numbers, on average we have 1.5 published articles per researcher this year. It’s very productive and powerful in the sense of quality according to the EducPro ranking. The latter has also ranked Montpellier Business School 4th for research in France (Productivity and Power).

From the qualitative point of view, it is also a great collective success: the last 12 months we had 15 rank 1 publications that are the work of 12 different teachers. These publications concern all disciplines and have been published in the most selective reviews of the “FT50”.

Over the last 2 years, we have more than 25 “ranks 1” which involve about twenty permanent professors, recent recruits but also the historical members of the faculty, some having even joined Montpellier Business School 10 years after their doctorate. This is important for us because the academic is above all men and women. And in the end, these are great results that must be maintained.

What are the main research topics of researchers at the Montpellier Business School faculty?

In all of these publications, we find different domains that resonate with the values ​​of Montpellier Business School: we have published on the diversity and overall performance, especially in the “Journal of business ethics” which is FT50, as well as on the Green supply chain, the circular economy, innovation in finance especially around cryptocurrencies or Big Data and Data Science.  And of course, entrepreneurship is still a zone of historical strength on which Montpellier Business School researchers produce regularly.

Does this strong evolution of research relate to the arrival of new programs at Montpellier Business School?

Thanks to the power of our research, we get a certain recognition that made foreign universities ask us for the development of DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) that combine research and continuing professional development. With this legitimacy, we opened a DBA in 3 universities in China.

These strengths in research are also valuable when creating programs, as for the launch of new high-level specialties within our Masters of Science on the campus of Montpellier, which are supported by excellent teachers-researchers also passionate about pedagogy.

How do these academic results and these evolutions translate concretely for the students of the Montpellier Business School initial training programs?

This allows for evolutions in terms of course curriculum with more options and enriched common core. In the end, it is a better professionalization that is offered to students in specialized sectors with a strong international dimension. The scientific results of the faculty also make it possible to bring innovations including in pedagogical approaches. To conclude, it is the student experience at Montpellier Business School that benefits from these results.

What future do you imagine for Montpellier Business School?

Montpellier Business School is increasingly intended to shine internationally. This development is built through the work of faculty and field teams in key markets on all continents. At Montpellier Business School, in keeping with our institutional vision, internationalization is inseparable from the pursuit of academic excellence and the defence of values ​​of openness of equal opportunities.