HEC Montréal
EN-3: Student Life

HEC Montréal has six active student groups which are focused on sustainability within the institution. Their mission and activities are focused on environmental, social and economics areas. Microcredit, fair trade, social responsibility in business, social engagement and volunteering are some subjects covered.
These groups coordinate their efforts through the Sustainable development student council, which also provided input to the School’s strategic plan.
For more information, please follow the link below: https://www.hec.ca/en/students/campus-life/student-life/

Hectare urbain is a sustainable urban agriculture project, aimed at increasing awareness of conservation and social responsibility issues among its staff and student community members. The project comprises a 5388.38 m2 food forest that protects and restores the plant heritage in the Mount Royal ecosystem; a vegetable garden that allows heirloom seed conservation, as well as two beehives. The project aims to provide a living lab space for students and staff in three complementary areas: agricultural permaculture, community engagement and social permaculture. From this perspective, the project engages management students in a school pairing program, which has allowed to share their knowledge with over 1000 primary and secondary students in three years.

HEC Montréal organizes sustainability-focused events throughout the year. A wide range of choices is proposed to our community. From symposia about actions to fight and adapt to climate change to outreach campaigns over composting, students, professors, office workers, guests and visitors can participate in dozens of events related to sustainability. Students can also attend the annual social innovation week, held in the winter and the social-impact career conference and fair, held in November. Moreover, student organizations organize a wide array of events, ranging from social-responsibility-focused academic competitions, sustainable fashion shows or online engagement events. Increasingly, student committees that are not directly working on sustainability topics are integrating different social and environmental considerations into their events. For instance, the Data Science Student Committee organized events focused on artificial intelligence ethics, as well as data science for climate change. The MBA student association initiated a sustainability hub and organizes monthly conferences with sustainability experts.

Every year, student group “Humaniterre” host a sustainable fashion event featuring local ecodesigner to show their creations. Each was selected on environmental criteria contained in their business case. Another group, "HEC Fashion Show", is promoting design and fashion creation from students, and took a turn toward sustainability themed fashion in the last years. A third group, "Artistes en affaires", promotes business students' art creation through dance, singing and theater events.

Different themes are selected and promoted every semester and month (ex: water in March, for the world water day). Every year, at the end of February/beginning of March, HEC Montréal participates in the "Douzaine du développement durable", a two-week series of events organized in collaboration with our campus partners from Université de Montréal and École Polytechnique. The event offers to all students of the campus the occasion to participate in sustainability events and conferences.
During the COVID19 pandemic outbreak, a different approach is used to promote important themes : collaboration between the school and student organizations was strengthened to promote a healthy lifestyle and disseminate information on support available for students in a period when most courses were delivered online.

With the financial support from the sustainability fund, multiple activities and workshops promoting well-being and sustainable choices are now co-organized with students and for students. For example, HEC Montréal and its catering partners COOP HEC Montréal collaborate with event organizers, being students, staff or external clients, to promote sustainable food choices and zero-waste events. Students also used to hold regular events promoting healthy lifestyles and wellbeing; in 2019, the most original of these events was a pet therapy session during the midterm exam weeks featuring doves, ferrets, dogs and cats. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the student associations and the School had to rethink their life skills promotion activities to an online format. For example, several student associations organized virtual yoga and mindfulness workshops. Also, a live broadcast of sustainable romantic cooking workshops is programmed on Valentine’s day.

With the financial support from the sustainability funds, multiple activities and workshop promoting well-being and sustainable choices are now co-organized with students and for students. For example, HEC Montréal and its catering partners COOP HEC Montréal collaborate with event organizers, being students, staff or external clients, to promote sustainable food choices and zero-waste events. Students also used to hold regular events promoting healthy lifestyles and wellbeing; in 2019, the most original of these events was a pet therapy session during the midterm exam weeks featuring doves, ferrets, dogs and cats. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, student association and school had to rethink their life skills promotion activities to an online format. For example, a live broadcasting of sustainable romantic cooking workshops is programmed on Valentine’s day.