Put on your thinking cap
ESSEC’s Global BBA prepares students for today’s dynamic business world
By Rachel Tan
Feb 26, 2020
ESSEC Business School’s sole undergraduate programme — Global Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) — has carved a name for itself since 1975. It has been consistently ranked the top business bachelor’s degree in France by media groups Le Point and L’Etudiant.
Professor Jamus Jerome Lim, who teaches second-year BBA undergraduates international economics, shares how ESSEC’s Global BBA equips students with tools to succeed in the fast-changing economic landscape.
What is so special about the programme?
ESSEC’s Global BBA offers a unique blend of theoretical and practical knowledge.
In the course I teach, for example, I spend a third of the time covering theory. Another third is spent on policy issues, such as the Sino-American trade war, while the remaining third is devoted to active learning.
The active learning component involves two classroom experiences and two detailed case studies where students are prompted to do a deep dive into a policy issue in international trade or finance. Students also do a group presentation on the trade and financial policies of a Group of 20 economy, and learn how to negotiate with other countries in a simulated setting of an international economic conference.
This approach caters well to A-level students in Singapore who may have often struggled with finding the relevance behind their coursework and the real world. We tap their strength in analytical reasoning, but also try to build up their soft skills essential for success in the business world.
How does the course prepare students for an uncertain economic climate?
I try to teach the students not what to think, but how to think. The goal is to think about a problem using the tools and concepts that they have learnt in class.
This prepares them to approach and analyse all manner of new issues that may emerge, rather than become automatons that are good at replicating previously established solutions.
How does having an ESSEC Global BBA help students clinch their dream jobs?
Top business sectors that our graduates go into are finance, consulting and IT. More than half of these graduates gained access to their jobs via internships, which is a signature component for the BBA programme as our students need to acquire at least 10 months of professional experience.
About 20 per cent of our graduates also went on to start their own company, which attests to ESSEC’s strengths in innovation and entrepreneurship as a business school.
