Institutional Context

ESCP Europe Wirtschaftshochschule Berlin e.V. is a state-recognized academic institution according to German law. It is part of ESCP Europe: a transnational school of higher education with campuses in Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain. Established in 1819, ESCP Europe is the world’s oldest business school and has educated generations of leaders and entrepreneurs. It is triple-crown accredited (EQUIS, AMBA, AACSB), and welcomes 4,000 students and 5,000 executives from 90 different nations every year across its five urban campuses in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Torino. ESCP Europe’s true European Identity enables the provision of a unique style of cross-cultural business education and a Global Perspective on international management issues. Through a combination of innovative pedagogy, cross-campus programs with integrated curricula, and a research-active faculty, ESCP Europe is an essential contributor to the development of a European, cross-national management culture.

The chamber of commerce of the region Paris Ile-de-France is the supporting agency of ESCP Europe. It is now almost 200 years that CCIR (former CCIP) is committed to education in management. Today, it spends more than 50 % of its budget for this aim. CCIR represents 800.000 companies which generate a quarter of the French GDP. Alongside the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Paris Ile-de-France region, which guarantees the financial resources of the school through an annual subsidy, the Berlin Government (Senate) has provided its support to the School for over 20 years. ESCP Europe also enjoys the backing of the Turin Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture and Crafts Industry, the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and a host of players belonging to the European business community.

For ESCP Europe in general and ESCP Europe Berlin in particular an international research focus is inextricably linked with excellent teaching and high-level management training. The combination of theory and practice is a central element of ESCP Europe’s various teaching programs. Consequently, research and development is the backbone of ESCP Europe Berlin as the school of management for Europe. The activities of ESCP Europe faculty members reach across three domains: teaching, research and academic program leadership. Besides, ESCP Europe increasingly supports transversal research conducted with non-management disciplines, facilitated by its academic alliances and partner universities. In 2015, ESCP launched its new ‘Cultures for Business’ or ‘C4B’ strategy designed to develop a new generation of international and transnational business leaders, who can understand and embrace the opportunities offered by cultural diversity. The institution will launch a new Executive Master Program in “Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurial Leadership”. Part of the strategy is furthermore setting up scholarships and transition programs targeted at potential students from underprivileged backgrounds. ESCP has recently started collaboration with Coursera, the MOOC platform, in order to launch a Massive Open Online Course.

Overview of the situation of online learning

MOOC development

• 2 MOOCs are running (intercultural management and comprendre l’écologie (in French language))

• 1 MOOC is on preparation and discuss the topic doing Business in Europe. All these MOOCs are available on Coursera.

However, producing MOOC represents an important expense for the ESCP Europe. One goal of the ESCP Europe is to try to reduce the cost of MOOC production. On the other hand, the ESCP Europe sees more benefits in developing their own MOOCs than using existing MOOCs as it is important for the ESCP Europe to propose courses made by ESCP teachers. This is the main reason why the ESCP management board is reluctant in using existing MOOCs instead of using and producing its own MOOCs.

Foreseen developments

In the next three years, the digitalization of specialized MASTER and Customized Blended learning for executive education (e.g. similar to Magenta MOOC) are foreseen.  Furthermore, an important project has been launched that is funded on learning through simulation/ video game)