Sustainability as a core value within KEDGE's specialised programmes
This event co-organised with the SimONU student association is offered several times a year to different programmes and publics.
This year, students from 3 specialised programmes taught in Paris, the MSc International Business, MSc Business transformation for Sustainability and the MSc Sustainable finance, participated in the project and worked on biodiversity preservation and restoration. This was an opportunity for them to meet, to think collectively about environmental issues and to find solutions in an intercultural context.
This initiative is in line with the school' s commitment to making sustainability a core component of its courses, in response to the emerging socio-economic and climate issues.
Course of the event
This new edition of SimONU brought together 100 participants from 25 countries. Following a few hours of training on the rules of negotiation and the UN protocol, the students attended a conference on Biodiversity hosted by the Caisse des dépôts et consignation (CDC) Biodiversité. They were given some insights into the issues at stake, with the participation of Margot Decory and Quentin Berger, in charge of the "Nature 2050" project at CDC.
After some preparation time to allow everyone to appropriate their country's position, debates and negotiations between delegations were held throughout the day in an attempt to find solutions to the central question: How to promote the preservation and restoration of biodiversity?
KEDGE professors and staff were asked to follow the debates and chose the delegation that best met the different evaluation criteria:
- Respect for the position of the country represented,
- Strict respect of the rules,
- Protocol and speaking time,
- Negotiation and leadership skills,
- Quality of propositions and ideas.
The simulation was conducted by the SimOnu associations of KEDGE Marseille and Bordeaux and ended with the General Assembly voting on a draft UN resolution. A prize was awarded to the most UN-like delegation after a day of great originality, inclusion and sustainability, the three core promises of the school.
About SimONU
SimONU is the KEDGE's geopolitical association. It specialises in organising and participating in simulations of United Nations General Assembly meetings in France and abroad. These simulations are challenging role plays in which students are invited to take on the role of diplomats, representing a country and trying to negotiate solutions to major international problems. The association competes in the prestigious MUN (Model of United Nations) in Prague, where 200 participants negotiate, but also in the USA, in Washington DC (800 participants) and in New York at the UN headquarters (5,000 participants).
SimONU also has an important link to the business world through its Corporate Services, aiming to develop the association through the sale of business services based on the know how obtained. The association is also connected to important partners such as Air France and Rotary International.
In addition, SimONU organises major events for students in preparatory classes (SimONU Prépa: 250 participants) or for younger students from disadvantaged areas of Marseille (SimONU Egalité des Chances: 150 participants).
