HEC Montréal
PA-6: Support for Underrepresented Groups

HEC Montréal non-discrimination policies are included in its “Policy to ensure a work and study environment free from all forms of harassment”. Student, staff or faculty who would be victim our witness any form of discrimination can refer to this policy to signal the situation and get the proper support. However, there is no non-discrimination policy per se. http://www.hec.ca/direction_services/secretariat_general/juridique/reglements_politiques/documents/policy-relating-to-harassment.pdf Nevertheless, Student Guide includes section for non-local students to adapt to their new environment, understand the cultural shock and seek support if they are victim of any form of discrimination. http://www.hec.ca/en/students/student-guide/studentguide.pdf For psychological support for students: http://www.hec.ca/en/sae/index.html

At HEC Montréal, the "Politique de harcèlement" states that any continuous action, or a single occurring action, such as hostile or non-desired behavior, speech or actions, that threaten the person dignity or psychological and physical integrity and impacts its work or study environment, will be considered harassment. Thereafter, any action or behaviors targeted at someone based on his or her race, religion, origin, sexual orientation or culture will be considered a form of harassment. Section 5 of the policy explain how someone who think is victim of harassment, or someone who witnessed such incident, can report it to the proper authority without fearing of retaliation, exclusion or any other negative outcomes. Section 6 of the policy details how decision, in the case of a formal case, will be given by the school director and expected outcome.

HEC Montréal as a long history of deserving underrepresented group. The school was founded to provide Montréal French-speaking community quality business and management education. Earlier during the 20th century, the French-speaking community was mostly excluded from the financial and business activities, and HEC was a pioneer by providing such education to this group. Today, HEC Montréal position itself as a world leader in being a French-speaking business school in North America, where English dominates the business world, and offers multiple services to attract and retain students from our four designated underrepresented groups (women, people with disabilities, indigenous people, members of visible minorities). The actual students’ male to female ratio is about 50% for most of the school programs including the Executive MBA, but excluding the MBA, where women are underrepresented. To attract and retain female students at the MBA programs, special efforts are deployed through networking events reserved for women in business. As for the student with disabilities, HEC Montréal decided to go beyond its “Politique d’intégration des personnes en situation de handicap” (people with a disability's integration policy) to attract and retain students. In 2018, the School opened the Espace Renaud for students with a disability. The space, which is located on the ground floor of the Decelles Building, is designed to be entirely accessible to students with disabilities. For example, students will be able to use the space to take exams or use adapted equipment or software. They can also use it to meet with their personal aid, learning support specialist or any other specialist, and receive any physical care they might need for their particular condition. The space can also simply function as a place for students to rest or meet up. Foreign students’ recruitment is strategic to HEC Montréal, and school representatives are travelling the world to attract them, with a permanent office in Paris and representation in northern Africa, Asia and all across Europe. Special efforts are made to attract students from Africa and China through shared program with local university (class exchange and shared teachers). HEC is attracting dozens of foreign students each year with its French Business Summer School, and intensive program designed for international non-francophone students who want to learn French for doing business. With a third of its student coming from 140 different countries, HEC Montréal is assuming perfectly his role through its numerous foreign students support programs. Finally, HEC Montréal as a program to attract and retain indigenous people for its higher management program, such as the Executive MBA. Special scholarships of up to $50 000 are reserved for indigenous people who subscribe to these programs. As for the faculty and employees, HEC Montréal respects Québec “Loi sur l'accès à l'égalité en emploi dans des organismes publics”, and has strict obligation in consideration of hiring people from designated underrepresented groups. This applies to all employees and faculty. HR department uses the four underrepresented groups to target in their recruitment process: women, indigenous people, people with disabilities and members of visible minorities (non-Caucasian). Consequently, The HR recruitment website was redesigned to represent the school diversity. While recruiting people from underrepresented groups for non-faculty position does not pose a problem, fulfilling faculty and research chair positions with people from the four designated underrepresented groups remains a challenge. Because HEC Montréal is a French-speaking university located in North America, international candidates who do not already speak French rarely apply for faculty position. Nevertheless, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan sets target to fulfill faculty position with people coming from the designated underrepresented groups. New openings are now exclusively for people from these four groups.

Montréal being a large, multi-ethnic and French speaking city with an especially harsh winter, integrating students from different origin and culture can sometime prove complicated and requires constant support from the first day of their arrival. This is why the SAE (Student Services Office) mission is to support students coming from abroad in their integration at HEC Montréal, and more generally in the city of Montréal. Through a complete website with useful guide, information and references, and with the presence of specialized counselors and student squadron on site, HEC Montréal is very well prepared to support students from different origins in their integration. The SAE squadron also organized peer-to-peer activities, such as city tour, winter cloth shopping and guidance, and holiday vacation pairing.