Esade Business School in Barcelona has formed a joint student and staff committee to review and analyze sustainability content and coverage in curricula. Esade’s Identity and Mission team, which is leading the sustainability transformation at the school, supported oikos Barcelona, the student association for sustainability, in collecting its fellow students’ voices and invited the student association to participate in the Curricular Review Committee.

Esade has made the collaboration between faculty and students a key aspect of the design and implementation of its Sustainability Action Plan, launched in September 2020. For example, the student community, led by oikos, has increasingly been more informed and concerned about the challenges of the 21st century.

The first and second editions of the PIR had over 1000 students expressing their wish for Esade to embed more sustainability and philanthropy topics into existing courses.

Working together has allowed the team to redefine and orientate its goals and plans to improve the impact of the Esade community. Several students of oikos have helped and worked together with faculty to analyze the existing syllabus and subjects in the light of sustainability challenges and assess to which extent they could be more inclusive and extensive.

The student involvement in the curriculum review initiative has created a Think Tank of Sustainable Finance, coordinated by a finance professor and oikos Barcelona. Students are offered the opportunity to participate in 4 seminars to discuss solutions and ways to conciliate sustainable and financial decisions. At the same time, they can apply what they have learned in a trading challenge using a platform that simulates the U.S. stock market.