An inter-institution degree focused on major transitions: emlyon is committed to a transdisciplinary academic dynamic with CHELS
Committed to strengthening the hybridization of students' knowledge, emlyon business school is contributing to the launch of the first-ever the Collège des Hautes Études Lyon Sciences (CHELS) of the very first Inter-Institutional Degree “Major Transitions: Measuring and Understanding to Take Action”, initiated by the Collège des Hautes Études Lyon Sciences (CHELS). This unique program, with a transdisciplinary dimension, embodies a common ambition: to train a new generation of students capable of thinking and acting in response to the complexity of transitions, through the diversity of knowledge and skills.
A structuring diploma to adress major transitions
The Collège des Hautes Études Lyon Sciences, an academic consortium bringing together eight institutions of excellence in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region — the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, Centrale Lyon, the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, the Mines Saint-Étienne, Sciences Po Lyon, VetAgro Sup, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 and emlyon business school — will launch at the start of the 2025 academic year a very first Inter-Institutional Degree (IID) titled "Major Transitions: Measuring and Understanding to Take Action". Open to students from any of the eight partner institutions at the bachelor's or master’s level (equivalent to three to five years of higher education), this unique degree has the pedagogical objective of addressing, in a transdisciplinary and complementary way, the major transitions caused by climate change and meeting the challenges of tomorrow. Opened in September 2025, it is structured around three learning phases, followed by a four-month internship:
Measuring and monitoring impacts
Understanding major transitions
Acting to change through project implementation
Built and directed by a group of over 70 professors-researchers from the College, the IID combines academic content with immersive learning, delivering 300 hours of courses and 200 hours of project work.
This new initiative is in line with the actions carried out by CHELS in fostering cross-disciplinary teaching. Indeed, this alliance, which brings together institutions recognized for academic excellence in fields of arts, fundamental sciences, engineering, humanities and social sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences, law and management, has already initiated, since its creation in 2014, several common learning formats:
the Cours Commun, a cycle of interdisciplinary conferences open to students and the general public;
Shared Modules, which allow students to follow courses at partner institutions;
the Executive education programs, tailor-made for executives in the public or private organizations;
support for cross-school student projects.
These programs illustrate both the vitality of CHELS and the students’ enthusiasm interdisciplinary academic pathways:
more than 130 shared modules opened each semester;
more than 170 students enrolled in the Common Course;
an custom executive education program for the Rhône Department, delivered through 5 conferences involving 14 professors-researchers;
student led-initiatives financially supported by the consortium.
By breaking down disciplinary silos, we offer both students and professionals opportunities to build knowledge-hybridization pathways that provide global and systemic responses to today’s complex transformations.
The knowledge hybridation: a pillar of emlyon's pedagogical project
As a member of CHELS since 2023, emlyon's involvement in this dynamic of academic cooperation and in this new CHELS diploma aligns with a clearly stated strategic orientation: to make the hybridization of knowledge a core driver of pedagogical transformation. Rooted in an action-oriented approach, emlyon’s teaching model is based on the belief - embedded in its strategic plan — that understanding contemporary challenges requires multiple, intersecting academic perspectives. This ambition is expressed across several key pedagogical innovations:
The Prototypes course : immersive modules where practice is central to the acquisition of skills. Students are introduced to the various prototyping techniques using the School’s fully equiped makers' lab.
Double degrees and international academic partnerships: in France and abroad, these courses allow students to combine management skills with other disciplinary fields ranging from political science or engineering sciences to hospitality and the health sector
The Responsible Engagement Program (PER): this unique experiential program aims to raise awareness and train students in societal and environmental issues, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, through the completion of a 50-hour volunteer mission within one of the School's partner associations. According to emlyon's commitment report, 87300 hours of volunteering were completed in 2024.
By actively participating in this initiative, emlyon affirms its desire to contribute to the animation of an academic ecosystem of excellence and to the structuring of a transdisciplinary cluster anchored in its territory.