Student engagement

What is student engagement?

At Excelia Business School, student engagement refers to any involvement that goes beyond academic success, taking forms as varied as association-based, professional, artistic, sporting, civic or family-related. This diversity of profiles is the norm at the school rather than the exception, and every student can put forward their own involvement, whatever area it falls under.

The school treats it as a genuine lever for personal and professional development, since these experiences build cross-cutting skills that lessons alone are not enough to develop:

• running a project
• speaking in front of a group
• managing your time between several priorities
• solving concrete problems under constraint

These are skills that matter later in any career path, whatever the sector or role aimed for, and that are a full part of our school and its student life.

Recognised engagements

Recognition is open to all Excelia Business School students, whatever their programme and year of study. It goes well beyond student volunteering alone, as it covers twelve families of engagement:

• volunteering with a student society
• being an elected student representative or holding a trade union mandate
• professional activity alongside your studies, other than work-study
• student entrepreneurship
• high-level sport, or regional, national or international competitions
• artistic practice, including intermittent performer status
• service as a volunteer firefighter
• military operational reserve
• national police operational reserve
• civic service
• volunteering in the armed forces
• student parenthood or family carer role

Volunteering with a student society holds a special place there, with student societies and the student society engagement mission, but it is only one of the twelve families the school recognises. Whatever your engagement, there is a good chance it will be included.

How to get your engagement recognised

To put forward an engagement, you submit an application to the Engagement Committee, which examines it in detail and adjusts your curriculum accordingly. This support lets you pursue your engagement and your studies at the same time, without either ever penalising the other.

Once your engagement is recognised, the skills you developed through it are not left at the school gates: they are assessed by a panel bringing together lecturers from the Faculty of Excelia Business School, an academic coordinator and the engagement team. This panel officially certifies the skills acquired, which then count towards your degree, on the same basis as your academic results.

It is this certification that sets genuine recognition apart from mere words: your application is examined by the Engagement Committee, your curriculum is adjusted accordingly, then your skills are certified by the panel at the time of your degree.

Getting involved during your studies, without having to choose between the two

At Excelia Business School, curriculum adjustment makes it possible to pursue a demanding engagement without giving up on your results: it is your academic deadlines and the pace of your lessons that reorganise themselves around your engagement, never the other way round. High-level sport, student entrepreneurship and social engagement are among the forms of engagement the school supports most closely, with adjustments designed case by case. The skills the panel certifies also count when it comes to preparing your entry into working life, a subject you will find covered in detail in our support towards employment.

Other forms of engagement also exist directly within the curriculum, through the Humacité© and Climacité© missions, which combine collective projects with social or environmental engagement. The Excelia Group is also a partner of the Institut de l'Engagement, which supports engaged young people in their civic path and helps them structure their future plans.

Wondering what curriculum adjustment actually looks like in your own programme? Our detailed brochure of our programmes sets out, for each programme, how lessons and engagements fit together.

Frequently asked questions about student engagement

What is the Engagement Committee?

The Engagement Committee is the body that examines the recognition applications submitted by students, then adjusts their curriculum when the application is approved. It is the Committee that opens the process leading to certification by the degree panel.

What types of engagement are recognised?

Twelve families of engagement are recognised at Excelia Business School: volunteering with a student society, student mandate, professional activity alongside your studies, entrepreneurship, high-level or competitive sport, artistic practice, volunteer firefighter service, military or national police operational reserve, civic service, volunteering in the armed forces, student parenthood and family carer role. Whatever your engagement, there is a good chance it will be included.

Is student engagement certified on the degree?

Yes: once your engagement is recognised by the Engagement Committee, the skills you developed through it are assessed by a panel bringing together lecturers, an academic coordinator and the engagement team. This panel officially certifies them, on the same basis as your academic results.

Can you adjust your curriculum as a high-level athlete?

Yes: high-level sport, or participation in regional, national or international competitions, is one of the engagements recognised by Excelia Business School, on the same basis as volunteering or entrepreneurship. Curriculum adjustment then follows the same process as for any recognised engagement: an application examined by the Engagement Committee, then skills certified by the degree panel.

Do you have to be in a student society to get an engagement recognised?

No: the list of recognised engagements goes well beyond the student society setting alone, from civic service to volunteer firefighter status, by way of entrepreneurship or student parenthood. Any engagement that goes beyond academic success is recognised, whatever its area.