— 2018

New status for visiting teaching staff

In the past, most of the teaching staff from other academic institutions working at Audencia arrived, delivered their classes and then left again. The Academic Department now encourages them to stay for longer periods, preferably six months or even a year, so that they can form a closer relationship with the faculty. “Audencia is a place where teaching staff from around the world can come and spend time, working on their own teaching and research projects and maybe, if they share the school’s values, referring their own students to Audencia,” explains André Sobczak. “In 2018, we confirmed a new status for visiting teaching staff for those wishing to carry out research or teaching projects for a period of more than one month. We have confirmed the offer of a longer stay on our website. The offer includes an office, access to all of our databases and media library and, of course, extra remuneration on top of a regular contract. As members of the Overseas Researchers in Nantes organisation, we also help them with finding temporary accommodation and all matters concerning visas, insurance and family stays.”

Another development, this time for 2019, is the appointment of teaching staff at the campuses in China. “Until now, with the exception of SABS, we have sent teaching staff from our Nantes faculty abroad,” André Sobczak tells us. “But this activity increased so much, reaching over 900 hours in China, that we are now going to recruit teaching staff in situ.”

— 2018

First DBA graduates in Chengdu

“The first five students on the DBA programme in Chengdu in China successfully defended their theses in November,” André Sobczak, academic director, is delighted to report. The programme is working and developing so well in China, in both Chengdu and at the SABS campus in Shenzhen, that Audencia will be launching a new DBA in CSR & Philanthropy there in 2019. “This demonstrates that, supervised by permanent teaching staff from Audencia and our partner institution in China at the same time, it is possible for executives and managers in responsible positions to produce rigorous, high quality research alongside their professional roles with direct, specific implications for their own organisation and, more widely, companies and society,” he adds. And it really is a virtuous circle, as these same DBA students will form a chapter of Audencia alumni in Chengdu, providing impetus for the creation of other programmes, such as the BBA and the MSc. “With a new awareness of research after spending three years working under the supervision of our faculty teaching staff, they will undoubtedly make a commitment, including a financial one, to creating new chairs,” notes André Sobczak.

And these students are developing a strong appetite for CSR, Audencia’s academic director tells us: “We have a lot of theses on CSR and sustainable development, both because it has a high profile and because it’s a major issue for China, one where Europe and France in particular have a certain legitimacy. One of our graduates worked on CSR in the luxury hotel industry in China. As an employer, he considers well-being at work and involvement in environmental and humanitarian projects to be of strategic interest in terms of attracting and retaining employees. Another worked on CSR issues in accounting firms where, here too, China is asking a lot of questions about tax optimisation and the fight against fraud, etc. Our Chinese students want to be pioneers in these areas, which present genuine challenges in their country.”

— 2019 Objective

141 faculty teaching staff in France and China

15% growth forecast for the Audencia faculty in 2019! It’s a huge challenge in a highly competitive sector that needs to be taken up by all of the school’s internal stakeholders. “It means that we need to continue to demonstrate our ability to attract and employ new talent,” says academic director André Sobczak. “We need to ensure that they really understand our values, our vision, our teaching approach and our approach to research, which is highly focused on its impact, on the academic world, students, businesses and society. And we will succeed, as we have these special values, we value everyone working in our faculty and we offer ever more interesting career development prospects in various locations, with the option – for our teaching staff – of working in China and South America, spending longer periods there and settling in better, and of course, of FIA coaching and financial resources for pursuing their projects…”