Rennes School of Business launches VOICE, a collective thinking project aimed to improve student experience

Innovation was at its peak at Rennes School of Business for 3 days as staff, professors as well as students brainstormed together to redesign the student experience and the ways of learning to make the school a better place.

Rennes School of Business was accompanied by Amsterdam based design sprint expert, Design Thinkers Academy. Federator, it briefed, guided the participants and facilitated the workshop with positive energy. In opening, they attended conferences given by Maxime Dupont, Director of retail development for the Luxury division of L’Oréal and Eric Berton, Head of Agility and transformation at Orange Business Services, Alexis Mariani, Director of Urban Planning and Housing at the metropolitan district of Rennes.

During the 3 days of design sprint, each participant brainstormed, discussed, debated and presented their ideas to improve student experience!

« Co-design together the next learning experiences »

“For the first time in the history of our school, our students met and co-designed the next generation of learning experience with our Faculty and staff” said MR. Thomas Froehlicher, Dean of Rennes School of Business. “Our school has become, for 3 days, a platform to unite students and staff under one roof. VOICE will become our way to boost a collaborative approach to be more efficient and improve everything we do”.

By getting the staff and students of Rennes SB, VOICE broadened discussion and awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing student experience. And it also allowed the participants to understand each other’s needs.

“I really loved this event” said Margaux, one of the facilitators of the event. “I could talk to professors and members of the administration who gave me their vision of the school and made me change mine at the same time” she added.

Human + digital = The Phygital

“The Design Sprint initiative enabled us to step into the shoes of our primary stakeholders, our students, and hear their voice first hand about their experiences and learning throughout their entire journey at RSB. This was a key exercise to mark the beginning of an ongoing dialogue within our community that is centered around making RSB a great place to learn. A highly enriching experience, and I look forward to seeing the great ideas being brought to life”, said Bernadett Koles, Associate Professor in Marketing and participant.

Several projects came out of this sprint design, some focused on the digital, some on the human aspect and some fusioned both.

A panel of local professionals consisting of François Nogrix, CEO of Felicity, Solene Horvais, Campus Manager at Roullier, Elena Mañeru, Human Ressources Director of Espage, Stéphanie Villejoubert, Human Ressources Director of  Retis, and Anne-Sophie David-Packer, Campus Manager of Lactalis Group attended the debriefing session to give their feedback to the participants.

One of their key recommendations was to mix the human with the digital aspects to create a unique phygital environment.

 “Voice is a brand-new initiative from Rennes School of business, 100% dedicated to our communities” said Loubna Aziz, coordinator of Voice project in the school. “The incredible diversity of the participants already resulted in strong synergies and ideas that will fuel a unique student experience. This is just the beginning of a process that will lead Rennes SB to become a great place to learn!”

To give your “voice”, participate in the next sprint design in 2019 !

*Video by Major Prepa