The choice of a bachelor programme is perhaps one of the most important decisions to be taken in the youth and it most often involves the entire family, not the students alone. The transition to university education requires several needs to coexist, including the aspirations and orientation of the students themselves, the values of the family and the needs of the world of work.
To better understand how this delicate moment has been handled by some of our students of the Bachelor in Management (BSc), we decided to meet some of their parents. The occasion and the location were utmost special: The Graduation 2019 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Berlin. An event full of emotions, but at the same time the most appropriate moment to look back at the beginning and take stock of the journey.
Choosing a bachelor’s degree. A decision taken in the family
“I already knew ESCP Business School, so I decided to introduce it to my daughter. We discussed quite a lot about the options at hand, but in the end my daughter Allegra decided to attend ESCP for her bachelor,” told us Monica La Cava, Head of Learning Organization Strategy at Altaformazione. “I work in the field of learning and development so in my opinion ESCP is definitely the right choice for her.”
Not all the parents involved in the conversation knew ESCP before, as explained to us by Greta Chan, Business Director at Freeyi Handels GmbH: “I was searching for a business programme that would be suitable for my son Hon Man. When I discovered ESCP I asked for some opinions about it. Especially younger people or professionals working in the consulting industry, firmly suggested me to go for it. At that time, I was thinking about some options: one was ESCP, the other one was a business school like St. Gallent, and maybe a local German school like Mannheim Business School. But I got several feedbacks saying that ESCP should have been our first choice.”
ESCP Bachelor in Management (BSc). The reasons of a choice
The quality of education was of course one of the main reasons of choice, but not the only nor the most important one. “I’m working in the Social Investment field, so I found this University to be very consistent with the values and ethics that are paramount to me. I did not suggest the School, but I supported the choice of my son André with enthusiasm,” told us Corrado Ferretti, Vice president at Carlo Denegri Foundation.
In fact, what emerged from the conversation, was the intrinsic value of the Bachelor in Management (BSc) as a life experience, besides its educational scope. “I think my son Guillaume became a well-rounded individual with a lot of maturity, which wasn’t the case three years ago. He is still 21 but he doesn’t behave as a 21-years old. Secondly, he has built strong foundations across business management in general and finance in particular,” told us Sebastien Danloy, Global Head of Asset Owners & Managers at HSBC Securities Services. A standpoint with which all the parents agreed: “This is really the way to train our children to be more independent and able to cope with different cultures. This is what they need to become global leaders in the future,” added Greta Chan.
Discovering new ways of looking at the same thing, as well as merging cultural backgrounds while appreciating each other’s differences, surely helped the second cohort of graduates of the Bachelor in Management (BSc) to approach the future with consciousness and optimism. “Parents should come and see at a ceremony like this what kind of energy and enthusiasm can come out,” said Corrado Ferretti, referring to the Graduation 2019. “I was really hit by the energy and hope that came from each one of the students today. It has been a real surprise to see how much they are involved in everything that surrounds them. But most of all, I really appreciate the sense of international culture that originates within the School.”
Learning independence and multiculturality. Three years in three countries
Of course, the decision to let your child live alone in several foreign countries at such an early age is not always easy, as stressed by Monica La Cava. “From a mother’s point of view, it was a little bit difficult to detach from my daughter, but I think it was well worth it. As parents, we think that we need to protect our kids too much, but we should definitely let them go and gain their own valuable experiences.”
“I have never told my children what to do, but I have always told them:‘do what you want to do, but make sure that you are really good at it’. If you want your child to have strong foundations, to operate in today’s world which is multicultural and multilingual, ESCP Business School is the perfect choice,” added Sebastien Danloy, while talking about the advice he would to give other parents in the same situation as they were three years ago.
“If you start to think about ESCP, you should have been thinking about how the future will be. And the future will be very global, so make sure to choose a programme which allows your kid to be able to really embrace different cultures. Because to live somewhere is very different than being an exchange student. One year in a new country is long enough to feel it and know the difference,” concluded Greta Chan.
The ESCP Bachelor in Management (BSc) is a unique opportunity to challenge yourself and experience intercultural management first-hand by living and studying in three different countries over three years. Contact our Admission and recruitment coordinators to get more information about the programme and the admission procedure.
