PRESSE RELEASE: 04.11.2020
KEDGE moves all courses online and offers personalised support services to the community
After the presidential announcement on 28 October, KEDGE was able to pivot all courses to an online learning format by eight in the morning on Friday, 30 October. The school is also offering a series of personalised support services to all students, graduates and partner companies.
Having listened to the feedback about the spring lockdown, and as part of our plan to continue operations, we at KEDGE have developed an arsenal of technical and organisational tools to ensure that learning could continue remotely even if the campus was closed. In addition to making all courses available on the LMS LEARN platform, we have adapted our teaching methods to manage both synchronous virtual learning to maximise interactions and asynchronous learning for students in other time zones. Exams will continue virtually.
Along with the tools already available to students that ensure they can continue their studies, KEDGE is providing support to help this second lockdown go as smoothly as possible. The Student Office is expanding services and the Wellness program that provides psychological help to struggling students is offering online appointments and personalised support throughout the lockdown for anyone in need. Awareness campaigns have been launched to encourage students to take advantage of these services.
All these measures are designed to offer personalised support and create a balanced weekly schedule of classes and coursework for students. They were made possible by input from 180 professors, 60 student associations, 20 trained members of the administration and a psychologist.
- Professor advising
An advising system has been established as of 3 November. In an effort to help students and keep them on track academically, each professor will support 30 to 40 students. Their role is to act as an advisor on methodological and academic matters and to direct students to the Wellness office and its psychological support system when appropriate.
- Support from associations, work-study teams and companies
Our 60 student associations and their 2,000 members have sprung into action to help their peers. Their efforts are focused on maintaining human contact during the coming weeks and the students in these associations are offering weekly mentoring appointments to first-year students, in partnership with the school administration.
This option is also available to work-study students, thanks to support from the work-study teams and professional training mentors at companies.
The normal slate of weekly activities has been expanded: online fitness classes, stoptober, with tips about how to manage stress, nutrition, advice, cooking classes, tutoring and more.
International students have access to their own programming including an international breakfast, weekly meet-ups, cultural and heritage experiences and special webinars.
- Support for Alumni
The focus is on developing a community of alumni mentors who can support graduating students as they embark on their careers.
In addition to the KEDGE Alumni services dedicated to career building and networking, webinars are being held to support students and graduates as they apply to internships and jobs: “Using your network to look for an internship”, “Using your network to launch your career”, “A day in the life of three alumni from the international business program”, etc.
A newsletter has also been sent out with information about the services available and about how the network is participating in the job fairs put on by the school.
Helping national and regional businesses
After the success of the programming from the continuing education teams during the first lockdown, we at KEDGE are expanding our value proposition to help employees at regional companies strategize and enhance their employability.
To do so, we have capitalised on the innovations launched during the first lockdown to provide even better support to several dozen companies :
- improving existing programmes like FNE-Formation (support for the French national employment fund training programme). Over 1,000 individuals have received support since March
- through online employee skill development programmes that are eligible for funding through the professional training fund.
KEDGE press contacts
Titiane LUGAND titiane.lugand@kedgebs.com
