CASE STUDY

To test our hypotheses that (i) alumni are interested in accessing sustainability training in the form of newly introduced sustainability courses in the school they graduated from and (ii) this access can have an impact on their personal and professional lives, we created the initiative Back to School for the Planet as faculty teaching new sustainability classes in the MSc in Hospitality Management at ESSEC Business School in fall 2020. Both the number of applications for the initiative and the answers to the impact survey we conducted six months later supported the hypotheses and demonstrated additional benefits. 

Just a few weeks before the start of the 2020-2021 school year, an alumni gathering presented the opportunity to informally discuss the introduction of a set of new sustainability courses for current students. One conclusion from the discussion was clear: while the graduates were pleased that sustainability teaching was now being incorporated by their former school, they did not feel that they themselves had the knowledge or understanding necessary to act in favor of greater sustainability in their companies. This led us to ponder how we could help them shift toward more responsible business practices. Since the global pandemic had made hybrid teaching commonplace at our institution, we realized that course attendance could now easily be extended to motivated participants among alumni as a lifelong learning option. From their home or office, willing alumni could benefit from the same newly introduced courses as current students. We submitted the idea to the program director, who shared our vision for lifelong learning and supported the piloting of the initiative. 

For the pilot, we opened to alumni four spots each in two new 25-hour courses on sustainability. We received 16 applications from alumni from a variety of countries and age groups. The eight accepted alumni were invited to attend all 25 hours of their assigned course alongside current students. During the sessions, we observed that the graduates were highly engaged, both in asking questions and in sharing relevant corporate experience, while the students were in turn stimulated by the presence of alumni and their active contribution to the discussions. Out of the participating alumni, five answered our impact survey six months later and unanimously agreed that the experience of returning to their former classrooms to learn about sustainability was transformative and had positive impacts both on their personal and professional lives.