ALUMNI
BEYOND COMPETITION

“DRIVING CHANGE, TOGETHER”

CONTEXT

On the initiative of Belgian scholars, the ‘Beyond Competition’ project strives to encourage collaboration between Belgian Universities and University Colleges, through their respective Schools of Management. Under this flag, projects are launched to target Master students, PhD candidates, Executives in general, as well as Alumni. The latter group is the focus of this initiative.

COLLABORATING MANAGEMENT SCHOOLS

UCLouvain – LSM

ULB – Solvay

ICHEC

UMons – Warocqué

KU Leuven – FEB

(expansion to other schools possible).

SUBJECT MATTER

This project is a key initiative designed to strengthen Alumni engagement on their long-life learning across the network of Management Schools.

It consists of discussions between Alumni Networks on challenges and difficulties to transform organizations and implement Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability (ERS) as well as Impact Projects in professional practices. The aim is to foster open and rich dialogue between Alumni and academics on the theoretical and practical challenges of changing organizations for the common good.

WORKSHOPS’ STRUCTURE

Each session is structured to encourage:

Experience sharing by alumni from diverse professional backgrounds
Academic insight to frame the conversation
Interactive discussions among participants on actionable takeaways
And a networking moment over drinks to further connect the communities

In some sessions, students may also be invited, working on related thesis topics to contribute their research and models, adding a fresh and forward-looking perspective to the discussions.

The workshop model ensures a varying combination of roles from the different partners (Convenor, Speakers- Practitioners, Speakers-Academics, Students). To cover several ERS areas, some complementary themes have been identified, the first subjects being:

Dos and Don’ts of a sustainable transformation of our organizations in the food industry (November 7, 2024)
Communication of Responsible Transformation: from theory to action! (Septembre 2, 2025)
- Convenor: Solvay
- Practitioners: Alumni for Solvay and LSM
- Academics: ICHEC and LSM
- Student: UMons-Waroqué

TIMELINE

This project takes the form of a series of late-afternoon workshops, running from Q4 2024 through 2026, hosted by partner institutions, intertwining communities of interest and venues.

CONTACTS: