Kering to Help Bocconi, Politecnico Universities Train Sustainability Managers
MILAN — Kering’s commitment to sustainability is expanding to education, as the French luxury group said Wednesday it has linked with Bocconi University and Politecnico di Milano.
The two-year master’s course program jointly jump-started by the two academic institutions on “Transformative Sustainability” and supported by Kering is geared at training the next generation of sustainably minded business leaders.
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Enrolling 80 students in its first 2023-2024 academic year, the master’s degree course will combine the expertise of the two leading universities spanning engineering and technology, as well as finance and economics. Each year students will spend one semester at Bocconi University and the following at Politecnico di Milano, also known as PoliMi.
Classes range from “Sustainable Finance and ESG Investing” to “Technologies for the Energy Transition Towards Sustainability” and “Data Analytics for Sustainability.” The course aims to train sustainability managers and analysts.
“It is a pleasure and a tremendous opportunity for Kering to collaborate again with best-in-class universities such as Bocconi and PoliMi. With this program, our common ambition is to form a new class of young professionals able to contribute to transform the organizations to answer our century’s major challenges,” said Marie-Claire Daveu, Kering’s chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer.
The linkup with Bocconi follows an earlier iteration orchestrated last year under the moniker “Bocconi Challenge on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Performances” whereby students were challenged to assess the impact of sustainability on the share price and valuation of companies, with a focus on the luxury fashion sector.
“As a company, Kering will continue to promote and foster a stronger collaboration between top-class companies, public and private institutions, and universities to join forces always keeping in mind our common objective: crafting a more sustainable future,” Daveu said.
Professor Francesco Perrini of Bocconi University and Professor Irene Bengo from PoliMi share the director’s role for the master’s degree course.
“To become more sustainable, organizations need to embed innovative, across-the-board, and complex practices in their DNA. This can only be achieved through a new generation of professionals, trained in interdisciplinary programs like the one we developed with the Politecnico,” said Francesco Billari, rector of Bocconi University.
Donatella Sciuto, rector of Politecnico di Milano, concurred, adding that the three-pronged collaboration with Kering and Bocconi “makes this effort particularly effective thanks to the complementary knowledge provided by the different partners.”
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