The second Classs of KEDGE's Associative Management Course has just started

On Wednesday and Thursday, the 13th and 14th of January 2021 respectively, the Class of 2020-2021 of the programme of excellence for students of the Grande Ecole Program (GEP) who are enrolled in the Associative Management Course. This course, which is currently held 100% virtually because of the current environment, gives students a glimpse of its educational contents, as well as opportunities for interacting with professionals throughout the programme. 

Since the beginning of the 2019 school year, KEDGE has offered The Associative Management course to students in the GEP who are involved in the managerial responsibilities of the school’s associations. The Associative Management Course meets the professional experience requirement of the GEP and is earned through a semester of full-time work in their association. The programme’s contents aids in the development of the associations, as well as the development of job competencies and soft skills of managers. 

To inaugurate this programme, since January KEDGE has offered students who are already active in an association two days to try out the methods and professional practices that are emerging in companies. The objective is to give them the desire to get started on their path, challenge their ways of working, and improve their organisational and management practices. 

Students will follow inspiring conferences, such as a presentation by Veepee, a KEDGE partner, on the resilience and innovations of companies during this health crisis, and one by Innocent Drink on the links between engagement and happiness at work. In addition, students can participate in several introductory workshops on the new practices utilised by companies, such as meditation and leadership, Sketchnote, visual matrixes for effective meetings, and appreciative inquiry approaches to understanding the innovative changes related to this unprecedented period that we are going through. 

This seminar is the beginning of a semester-long course that will place during the first part of the gap year as part of the two-year Master 1 programme. After that, students will do an internship for six months and then will return to continue their academic courses. In doing this, they are making the decision to differentiate themselves in terms of employability by making their volunteer work an advantageous aspect of their education. 

In addition to dedicating 100% of their time on their volunteer projects, the students benefit from a customised programme of support whose object is to professionalise their practices, inspiring them, giving the chance to practice emerging approaches within a company - such as professional coaching, professionalisation workshops related to managerial skills and management, co-development sessions to work in pairs to aid each other in resolving situations, and other activities. 

Created and managed in collaboration with the school’s services (such as the Career Centre, Business Nursery, Alumni Network, Business Relations, etc) and with Veepee, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, partner companies of KEDGE Be-U (KEDGE’s guidance and personal development scheme), this course aims to give students the type of “profile of excellence” that is sought after by recruiters, particularly individuals who are well-equipped and competent in:

• Team-based project management,
• Leadership and responsible management,
• Entrepreneurial capacity and autonomy,
• Ability to take responsibility, risks, and show initiative.

The course is designed to provide students with:

• A different kind of contact between students and supervisors, as well as bolstered guidance,
• An experiential and entailed pedagogical approach, with small-group workshops and direct field application which put them in real management situations that are experienced by associations.
• A rich and differentiated instruction method, in line with the expectations and needs of recruiters, that provides an individual with maximum employability and the ability to be efficient in the workplace. 

Application to the Associative Management Course is made to KEDGE's Learning By Doing department during the pre-master year of the GEP, and makes up part of the first year of the PGE master's programme. It is open to students who will be exercising managerial responsibilities during the first year of the master's programme, whether in a hierarchical or functional capacity, within the school's student associations, namely those serving as:

• Members of the executive boards,
• Centre managers,
• Project manager for projects and assignments. 

About Be-U and KEDGE's Learning by Doing pedagogy:

KEDGE is convinced that learning through working on projects profoundly changes the personal and professional development of students and prepares them for the challenges they will face as managers. Since its inception, the school has placed learning-by-doing at the heart in both its pedagogical system and in the design of its training programmes. KEDGE wants experimentation, mainly through developing and managing projects, to be a fundamental dimension of a student’s education and personal development. KEDGE's Personal and Professional Development (Be-U) programme helps students throughout their studies to prepare for their entry into the world of work. As part of this scheme, all KEDGE students must complete at least one Pro-Act project during their studies, and it is a prerequisite for obtaining their diploma. The Learning by Doing service assists them in defining and implementing projects to develop know-how and interpersonal skills. The new Associative Management Course of the Grande Ecole Programme is part of this service. 

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