XEBS Global BBA: Early Beginning for Tomorrow’s Leaders

By Dr. Sasmit Patra

The uniqueness of Global BBA programme lies in a pedagogical approach based on experiential learning and the opportunities of a multi-campus experience.

XAVIER-EMLYON Business School is a unique business school born out of the collaboration between Xavier University, Bhubaneswar and Emlyon Business School, France. Among the various programmes that this prestigious school provides is the four year Global BBA degree programme. The uniqueness of this Global BBA programme lies in a pedagogical approach based on experiential learning and the opportunities of a multi-campus experience. With a diverse choice of campuses ready to welcome you at different junctures during the course, this unique programme delivers a coherent learning cum action approach. Beyond classwork and beyond face-to-face, this programme inlcudes alternative learning modes through hands-on projects a student can learn tremendously from.

The numerous activities fully integrated into the programme give students a chance to conduct client surveys, assess and critically monitor websites, and study brand image and awareness. Apart from this, they can carry out a social audit, launch a marketing project, adapt a company’s merchandising policy as well as participate in induction seminars, business games and idea-generation workshops. This will help them manage an innovation or business creation project from scratch: the challenge in launching a new product or service or opening up a new market will require you to draw on the whole range of fundamental courses, integrate diverse areas of knowledge in the areas of finance, marketing, law, management and many more, and thus deliver both an innovative and solid business proposal. These projects and missions are defined and hosted by firms and establishments in services, transport & logistics, food industry, fashion, leisure activities, tourism, oil drilling, real estate among others.

In the first year, there are some very interesting courses like research methods, analysis of content and data, understanding accounting information, introduction to marketing, history of business, project and team management, introduction to law and digital training (statistics, information systems, tools).

The second year offers courses dealing in globalisation and geopolitics, social sciences and cross cultural management, mathematics and applied statistics for management, corporate social and environmental responsibility and sustainable development, introduction to entrepreneurship (marketing, provisional budgets, etc.), strategic marketing & customer relations and communication & community management.

The third year, taught in France provides courses in information systems and management control, international marketing, human resource management, international business management, social entrepreneurship, information & digital systems, competitive & business intelligence and African business environment.

The fourth year, taught in India, includes training in corporate governance, managing sustainable innovation, operations management, strategic & change management, big business players, export management, brand management, digital transformation & new management practices, rethinking business models and research methods.

Some of the functional and sector specific specialisations available in the fourth year cover the supply chain & purchasing, corporate finance, management control & auditing, international business: Human resources management, event management, marketing management, life sciences & health care evolution, managing growth, public services management, digital firms, hospitality management, luxury & design industry, e-business, banking & insurance and family business.

Some of the key facts about Global BBA:

• It is a top-level 4-year bachelor’s degree program with modes of learning inspired by design thinking and developed through our partnerships with engineering schools.
• It has a cross-disciplinary learning approach, beyond the traditional fields of management, drawing on testimonies and insights from partners and experts, where large part of the course is structured around experiential learning.
• It has a dedicated academic team comprising professors and professional experts from the business world
• It provides for at least six months professional experience and a freedom to choose from a wide range of opportunities and thus construct one’s own study path while taking advantage of one year’s international experience at one of the Emlyon campuses worldwide.

While for various other programmes, there are routine assessments, this programme has an E-Portfolio system for assessment. Under this system, the candidate will send in a presentation of his/her achievements, background and motivation for joining the Global BBA program in digital format. There is no pre-determined model, example or detailed description of such a presentation since it should reflect the personality of the candidates and provide an opportunity for them to express themselves in ways which are true to them and suit them the best (video, slide-show, photo presentation, blog, etc.). There is no right or wrong option. The elements that will be assessed are, structure, internal coherence and relevance, the aesthetic choices and the overall quality.

Apart from this, there is Motivation interview, the aim of which is to assess the candidate’s potential to participate in and contribute to the programme while developing his/her abilities both within the learning environment and subsequently in real business situations. The candidate will be encouraged to reflect on his/her experiences and his/her future projects. There also are partial scholarships for early birds and meritorious students.

My understanding is that this is a unique school and a unique programme which any undergraduate student interested in making a career in business should positively undertake. Truly, Global BBA is a wonderful and path-breaking undergraduate programme in the domain of BBA education.

About the Author:

Dr. Sasmit Patra, MBA, PhD (Allahabad). Dr. Patra is the Dean of XAVIER-EMLYON Business School and teaches courses on organizational behavior and human resource management. He has vast experience in academics and industry.