The 2018 ESSEC Foundation Awards Honor Our Teachers

The 'Programme Expérience d’une Organisation', or PEO for short, celebrated its 10^th anniversary this year. We decided to interview Junko TAKAGI, Associate Professor, Management Department, and Laureate for the ESSEC Foundation 2018 'Daniel Tixier' Pedagogical Experience Award. This Prize awards the design, the educational leadership and the management of an original and innovative pedagogical experience.

Fondation ESSEC: What exactly does PEO entail? 

Junko Takagi: The PEO was the forerunner of many pedagogical innovations that have come into being in the past few years to implement alternative learning methods in the Pre-Master’s program. It has become a legitimate fixture in the curriculum, and is now associated with more recent programs such as Going Pro which shares a similar pedagogy and resources. 

FE: What is the goal of PEO? 

J. Takagi: This learning-by-doing program was conceived to help students to rapidly develop a mature understanding of a professional environment. More than 500 students are encouraged each year to live this four weeks hands-on experience. The key objective of the program is to introduce first-year students to organizations, and to think about and understand organizational phenomena in an inductive and exploratory manner. In so doing, they are enclined to hone their observational skills and self-reflection.

FE: What makes it an innovative program? 

J. Takagi: PEO encourages a transformation of student expectations around learning and proposes a learning process that is sustainable because it is applicable to other situations such as internships and apprenticeships. 
In addition to being a pedagogical innovation, it has had a transformational impact on how the institutional actors involved - professors, administration and project managers - collaborate within the institution to ensure the pedagogical quality of the program. 

FE: Who does PEO involve at ESSEC?

J. Takagi: This program is based on teamwork and collaboration, and would not be what it is today without the contributions of all those who have been involved over the past ten years.  
On the pedagogical side, the program was initiated by Laurent Bibard (E85) during his term as the ESSEC Grande École Program Director. It was coordinated by Laurence de Carlo (M87) for the first three years, followed by Annick Ancelin-Bourguignon (E78). They were the ones who formalized the content and structure of the program. 
On the internship side, Hughes Derycke and Yann Kerninon have been in charge of finding over 550 internships every year specifically for PEO. 
This year, we welcomed on board Agnes Zancan and her team to run the administrative side of the program, which had until then been taken care of by Marie-Noëlle Koebel, Valérie Fournier and the Service des Études. 
Also, a team of 20 facilitators actually make the program happen every year. They are in direct contact with students and they give life to this pedagogical experience. The success of the program depends on the good collaboration of these different elements. This is the reason why this Foundation Award for Pedagogical Experience goes to everyone who has contributed to make it happen.