Since it turned into a Benefit Corporation (société à mission) in July 2021, The School has been asserting its mission of general interest in its legal status, thereby including social and environmental responsibility in all its programs and activities. This socially inclined vocation is resolutely responsible, and roots emlyon in its role as an actor for the common good.
Social and environmental engagement at the heart of the strategy and organization
In 2020, the creation of the Social and Environmental Engagement Department was a key milestone in the School's engagement on the issue of social and environmental responsibility. This Department, integrated in the School's Executive Committee, directly reports to the President of the Executive Board. Its mission is to disseminate all there is to know about ecological transition to all learners, in an effort to combine academic excellence and social responsibility, but also to improve the way emlyon business school operates as a responsible organization.
In 2024, emlyon business school adopted a strategic plan with a 2028 horizon line, and whose engagement is one of its five foundational cornerstones.
The idea is to rally up the community of emlyon business school around the issue of responsibility at all levels. The engagement is being rolled out in all of the School's dimensions. More specifically, it involves adopting the status of Benefit Corporation (société à mission) and the creation by emlyon professor-researchers of the method called “Sustainable Development Goals Inside”, whose purpose is to steer the integration of CSR issues in all programs; but it also involves a strong-willed policy in terms of social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, and environment.
Nationally and internationally acknowledged
Engaged in the PRME approach - Principles for Responsible Management Education, emlyon issued its Communication On Engagement in the spring of 2023. Launched in 2007, PRME is an international initiative supported by the UN's Global Compact. Its objective is to inspire and reward initiatives in responsible education, research and leadership.
The School received the DD&RS label on December 14th, 2021. This label was born from the collective work of 10 universities and business schools, of the “Conférence des Grandes Ecoles”, of the “Conférence des Présidents d'Université”, of the Ministry in charge of sustainable development, of the Ministry in charge of higher education and of the “Réseau Français des Étudiants pour le développement Durable”.
emlyon renewed in June 2022 its BSIS label - Business School Impact System, obtained for the first time in 2016. Thanks to its BSIS label, the school was able to measure its impact on the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, the 1st industrial region and the 2nd economical one in France, a region in which the School is historically rooted. This accreditation is co-delivered by the “Fondation Nationale pour l'Enseignement de la Gestion des Entreprises” (FNEGE), one of the main actors of higher education programs in management, and the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), the quality accreditation agency for universities and business schools in Europe (notably allotting the EQUIS accreditation).
All three structures of the School are certified by Qualiopi for the quality of its activities as an educational organization, but also for its CFA and its approach of the validation of assets of experience (VAE in French) for emlyon Executive Education. Remarkably, this certification integrates in its priorities, the accessibility to and the inclusion in training programs.
The “Référentiel National Qualité” which this certification is based on, covers access for people with disabilities in the wide majority of its 32 standard indicators.
The School signed off on October 12th, 2022, the “Relationship Charter for Responsible Suppliers and Purchasing” driven by the “Médiateur des entreprises” along with the “Conseil National des Achats”.
Declaration of Extra-Financial Performance
emlyon business school is subject to the DEFP. This document describes the School's approach, actions and orientations to cover the social, environmental and governance questions in relation with its activities.