Rouen Business School is very involved in various initiatives aimed at promoting cultural and social diversity in institutions of higher education.

Faced with the major challenges of the replacement of the current generation of managers in the French economy and society, and the need to train up innovative managers, with new projects, confident in the future, the enhancing of the breeding ground for recruitment that is higher education is both an essential, for social cohesion, and a source of wealth which we must learn how to marshal.

“Our responsibility with regard to social diversity and equality of opportunity concerning access to the upper echelons of higher education is indisputable”, says Arnaud Langlois-Meurinne, Dean of Rouen Business School. “Our mission consists of helping young people who represent the diversity of French society take their first steps towards the world of work. To help young people from all social backgrounds to better themselves socially, we open our programmes to people with a variety of talents, a wealth of human experience, a spirit of entrepreneurship and a capacity for innovation which the French business community really needs today”.

Promotion and management of diversity

Rouen Business School is a signatory of the ‘Charte de la Diversité’ and a member of the Association Française des Managers de la Diversité (AFMD). The aim of the AFMD is to provide a new kind of forum for exchanges and sharing of experience concerning the management of diversity, bringing together human resource and diversity managers and research-professors. In this area, a group of professors and specialists at Rouen Business School have drawn up a special manual, a kind of ‘White Paper’ entitled ‘Implementing your diversity policy : measurement and indicators’.

Further to this, Rouen Business School is also a partner of the ‘Entretiens de l’Excellence’ (Excellence Interviews), organised by the Club XXIème Siècle, and which, last May, were held in the School. The Club XXIème Siècle brings together people of all nationalities (France, North Africa, Asia, Africa south of the Sahara, the French Overseas Departments, South America), of all professions (top government officials, company executives, doctors, lawyers, university faculty, etc.), and of all political hues, all motivated by the desire to show that ‘the diversity of its population is an opportunity for France in the context of globalisation, and in the dialogue between cultures’.

Cordées de la Réussite (A lift up to success) – The will to succeed in higher education

For the last 5 years, Rouen Business School has been fostering Lycée pupils in the last 3 years of high school, and from less privileged backgrounds, who have distinguished themselves by their school results. This project involves five Lycées in the Greater Rouen urban area : Val de Seine, Les Bruyères, Flaubert, Vallée du Cailly and Marcel SEmbat. The aim is to give the pupils the ambition and the confidence to pursue their studies in higher echelons of higher education system.

During their three years in the Lycée, the pupils, selected by their school, are sponsored by students in the Master Grande Ecole Programme of Rouen Business School who have volunteered for this project and have been specially trained beforehand. They take part in a special programme involving professors, students, alumni and also the School’s corporate partners. This programme includes workshops on discovering what companies are, the development of a career plan, work methods and cultural visits.

This partnership is now part of the ‘Cordées de la Réussite’ scheme set up by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, and the State Secretariat for Urban Policy. Every year, thirty or more pupils in the first year of the Lycée are selected from the five Lycées concerned.

In April, 2010, Rouen Business School hosted the WEPI, a national event in which students in different schools participating in schemes like the Cordées de la Réussite met to exchange views and share their experiences.

In 2010-2011, publicity campaigns will be organised targeting the secondary schools which are the feeders for the lycées concerned.

“Tremplin pour Réussir” (Springboard to Success) – Promoting equality of opportunity

“Tremplin pour réussir” is a programme jointly developed by Rouen Business School and Ferrero, which offers young people who have got the Baccalaureate but who have lost their sense of direction for their future the opportunity to do a full year of training, totally paid for, in order to consolidate their academic base and help them to define the higher education course they require. If they decide to join the Bachelor of Commerce – ISPP Programme, Ferrero will cover the cost of tuition for the best pupils and will take them on as apprentices, with the possibility of a permanent contract later on. Those who choose another path will be mentored for a further term. Other initiatives are being set up between Ferrero and Rouen Business School.

Other schemes favouring continuation of studies in the upper echelons of the higher education system

• In collaboration with the other higher education establishments of Rouen, Rouen Business School runs workshops in a certain number of Lycées during the ‘Journées de l’Excellence et de la Réussite’ (Excellence and Success Days) organised by the local authorities at the end of January. Students from different schools present the types of job their schools prepare them for, and the ways of getting into them.
• Rouen Business School’s Master Grande Ecole Programme linked with six Telecoms companies in the ‘Passeport Promotions Télécoms’ programme, which aims to give guidance to students in technology-based preparatory classes for entry into the Grande Ecoles. This initiative offers them the opportunity to be assisted by a tutor (someone who works for one of the 6 associated companies) throughout their period of studies, from the school entrance examination to their first steps in the jobs market.

Financial assistance for students

Rouen Business School and the Rouen Chamber of Commerce and Industry are concerned to ensure that no student is obliged to abandon his/her admission to the School, or give up his/her studies for financial reasons. They have therefore made arrangements for providing students with financial support.

Every year, the Rouen Chamber of Commerce and Industry grants reductions in tuition fees to students with academic merit, and who are in some financial difficulty. These grants are reserved for students following a programme lasting at least two years, who have achieved academic merit and who have shown that they do their very best to manage within their budget. The reduction can be of up to half of the tuition fees.

Rouen Business School has signed an agreement with two banks concerning the granting of unsecured loans to Rouen Business School students. These are available to students having achieved the highest merit, whether it be from the academic point of view or in terms of their general conduct. Applications are vetted by the School before being transmitted to the CIC Nord Ouest and the Société Générale.