KEDGE’s Responsible Digital Month

Being a sustainable school is one of the promises KEDGE made in its strategic plan. In line with this commitment, KEDGE has a climate and biodiversity plan that relies on carbon assessments carried out on all its practices. The objective of this month’s theme is to address climate change by reducing the school's carbon footprint in terms of the use of digital tools. Raising awareness and training its communities are at the core of Responsible Digital Month.

Digital responsibility is a continuous improvement system that aims to reduce the ecological, economic, and social footprint of information and communication technologies (ICT). KEDGE has a responsibility to measure and improve the impacts of its activities, as well as a duty to educate the new generations it trains. 

As digital technology has a dominant place in its activities, KEDGE has taken up the challenge of increasing its digital skills, identifying concrete actions it can take, and implementing them to meet its short -, medium-, and long-term goal of improving the organisation as a whole. 

The objective of this initiative is also to inspire all players in the sector and encourage them into taking action to make higher education more responsible in its use of digital technology. 

A month that tackles several issues

• Mobilising, raising awareness, and training all employees and students in order to change their behaviours.

The first aspect of responsible use of digital technology concerns addressing security issues, including cybercrime, anti-phishing/phishing, ransomware, and security of passwords.

A second aspect concerns the implementation of good practices: extending the life of hardware, storing data in an intelligent fashion, deactivating the camera when possible during remote meetings, and switching off the computer rather than putting it to sleep.

• Reducing the carbon footprint of equipment and its usage.

IT equipment will be refurbished for the use of the students receiving tutoring as part of the Phoenix "Egalité des chances" project and for students in priority neighbourhoods. Data storage will be modified and IT equipment purchased according to sustainable procurement indicators in calls for tender. 

• Prevention of problems related to the accessibility to (computer illiteracy and disability) and use of (psycho-social risks) of digital materials.

Responsible digital technology must play in a part in reducing the inequalities that exist in terms of access to education, contribute to improving the quality of life of both students and instructors, fight against isolation, and contribute to creating human dynamics.

Regarding the issue of digital accessibility, KEDGE, in association with its HandiKap network, is setting up workshops to improve the use of new tools for inclusion.

The objective is to ensure digital technology is accessible to everyone by using adaptive tools and training to maximise its usage. Training courses, which have already begun, will be regularly offered and will include accessibility tools such as subtitles, visual and audio magnifiers, speech-to-text, integrated translation, etc.

Several initiatives within the KEDGE community

At the academic level, KEDGE is one of the four educational establishments (ESSEC Business School, JUNIA Grande Ecole d'Ingénieurs, and Polytech Montpellier are the others) that are part of the "responsible digital" pilot project of the Responsible Campus network and, as such, is receiving assistance from the consultancy firm Utopies. 

On the educational side, students were introduced to a Tech for Good approach in the associative management course. A workshop run by the Latitudes association raised awareness amongst participants of several core themes regarding current controversial issues in the tech sector, including energy consumption, geopolitical issues, management of personal data, mass surveillance, job insecurity, etc. 

At the association level, the Technom'aide association (an expert in digital proficiency) works on raising awareness amongst students and encourages them to practice good practices. Students will also be trained to run digital frescoes similar to the climate frescoes already offered at the beginning of the academic year.

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