oikos International Annual Report 2021

2021 annual report

who we are? oikos is an international student-driven organization for sustainability in economics and management. Founded in 1987in Switzerland, we today empower leaders to drive change towards sustainability worldwide.

Our programs embed environmental and social perspectives in faculties for economics and management. They comprise conferences, seminars, speeches, simulation games and other initiatives to transform teaching and research. They promote the integration of sustainability in curricula and provide platforms for learning, creating and sharing solutions.

The heart of our organization are our student members who turn ideas into action, currently in 50 oikos chapters around the world. They are supported by a global community of oikos alumni, advisors, faculty, and partners, as well as an international team working remotely across the globe.

oikos chapters

Africa ANU, Kenya* Alexandria, Egypt* Cairo, Egypt* Kano, Nigeria* Rabat, Morocco* Asia Bangalore, India HKUSTU, China Jamshedpur, India Kolkata, India New Delhi, India Suzhou, China Pune, India Vellore, India Europe Baku, Azerbaijan

Bayreuth, Germany Barcelona, Spain Belgrade, Serbia Berlin, Germany Bratislava, Slovakia Brussels, Belgium Cologne, Germany Copenhagen, Denmark Graz, Austria Hamburg, Germany Helsinki, Finland* Istanbul, Turkey Lausanne, Switzerland Leipzig, Germany Lille, France Lisbon, Portugal London, UK* Luneburg, Germany* Lugano, Switzerland*

Lund, Sweden Moscow, Russia Nottingham, UK* Paderborn, Germany Paris, France* Reims, France Reutlingen, Germany Prague, Czech Republic St. Andrews, UK* St. Gallen, Switzerland Tbilisi, Georgia Tubingen, Germany Vienna, Austria Warsaw, Poland Witten/Herd., Germany North America Edmonton, Canada New York City, USA

table of contents what defines us?

5

our story

6

letter from the Co-presidents

8

oikos in an ever-changing world

10

oikos becomes a fully remote organization

11

rethinking our governance

12

new oikos look and infrastructure

14

exploring fundraising opportunities

16

oikos leadership program

18

LEAP advanced track

18

LEAP life track

21

LEAP researchers’ track

22

LEAP chapter track

25

LEAP tools

26

transforming education initiative

27

oikos curriculum academy

28

oikos curriculum camp

29

Positive Impact Rating

31

oikos case program

32

curriculum change squad

33

a community of changemakers

34

a decade of FutureLab

34

Rethink2React - oikos conference 2022

35

legislative meetings and assemblies

37

Regional meetings, community hours

38

chapter engagement

38

alumni

42

oikos International Team

44

oikos advisory council

46

partners

47

outlook 2022

48

what defines us? we’re on a mission To transform economics and management education by empowering student change agents, raising awareness for sustainability opportunities and challenges, and building institutional support for curriculum reform

we have a vision Economics and Management purposed for a sustainable world.

our purpose is clear To create spaces and support for human development on different, interlinked scales, so that humanity can thrive in alignment with nature.

we go by our values Respect, Integrity, Accountability and Openness

our story how it all started In 1987, some few ambitious students at the University of St. Gallen,

Switzerland

founded

what nowadays has grown into a strong, and even more ambitious and impactful community of student change agents. Of course, this development needs continuous commitment and innovation

over the years.

Three years after starting the student club, the oikos Foundation was established as a result of successful engagement by the students of oikos St. Gallen.

They envisioned a way to support the integration of ecological issues into the research and teaching of economics and management, a vision that had been fed by perspectives and voices of an increasing amount of members and visiting professors. Following these steps, oikos St. Gallen and the oikos Foundation

played a fundamental role in establishing the Institute of Ecology and Economy at the University of St. Gallen in 1993.

going international Over the following years, the interest in oikos grew beyond the walls of St. Gallen and the decision was made to turn the local student club into an international network of student change agents which has been growing and evolving ever since. In 1998, we finally went international, opening first chapters outside of Switzerland.

Throughout the years we welcomed new chapters across Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. In 2003 we created the oikos Case Writing Competition and Case Collection, which by now has come to be our longest-running program.

the new millennium Many programs and initiatives have been added to our portfolio ever since one example being the FutureLab. Created in 2011, it quickly became our flagship event for gathering the entire oikos Community and building partnerships among oikos members, alumni, academia, and other partners.

In 2015 we kick-started what would eventually become another important pillar of our work - the oikos Leadership Program LEAP. Since its launch in 2015, the program welcomed over 250 participants and has had a lasting influence on their lives. Many of the LEAP Alumni return to the program as coaches to continue their leadership journey and help new generations of LEAPers evolve.

The 30 year anniversary in 2017 marked a start of a new era in oikos. It set in motion the transformation of oikos International into a fully student--led organization, which was finally completed in 2019 with the closure of the oikos Foundation.

the shift to digital Ever since 2016, oikos started moving all operations to the virtual space, gradually replacing the office in St. Gallen with the homes of our team members around the globe. By now we work fully remote in over 10 countries, a step that has been greatly supported by our alumni and that has already proven helpful considering our relationships to our roots.

Shifting the focus back on the work of our student change agents, which definitely deserves to be but into the center: Nowadays, oikos is a powerful student community with around 1000 active oikees, learning and leading in their local chapters in 48 cities all over the world. Together, we question how we want to learn, lead and live in a diversity of ways, on the ground, in our universities and in exchange with a global network of allies and supporters.

letter from the co-presidents Dear oikees, dear friends of our community of student change agents, 2021 was a year of transformation and innovation at

oikos, both regarding our organizing and in the way we tend our community through our initiatives and programs. It was a year in which the drastic changes and circumstances we’ve witnessed on both a global and a very personal scale led to learnings we couldn’t It was a year in which the drastic changes and circumstances we’ve witnessed on both a global and a very personal scale led to learnings we couldn’t have imagined before. Once more, the innovative and change-driven oikos mindset crystallizes in our actions - once more we see that moving ahead together is moving us further than moving alone.

Looking back, what stands out is how the decisions we take keep enabling us to better navigate the complexity of the world around us. We are future-proofing our organization for the next years of action towards sustainability through internal shifts like the co-presidency or working fully remotely. Our governance model has evolved and new internal structures have emerged and keep forming. We created a new branding for oikos, making it available for the community, and redesigned our website. We have reimagined the way we lead, connect and interact both within and beyond the oikos community, for example through creating the oiKosmos, our new intranet and revisiting the history of our network in the homecoming initiative.

The changes also trickled through to our initiatives, where we stand with a higher clarity regarding our role and impact than ever before. We embarked on sharpening and reinventing most of our programs, adapting them to the needs of our students and the state of the world. The oikos Curriculum Change Initiative grew into the Transforming Education Initiative, informed by new formats and ideas that widen our focus from the curriculum to more contextual change

change processes. The oikos Leadership Initiative- LEAP moved ahead with structural changes as envisioned in 2020, increasing both the capacity and traceability of our impact in the world of leadership. Students, young researchers, our chapters & partners and all leap alumni find meaningful opportunities for their own development.

Believing that a community is only as strong as the support network it can provide, we started prototyping and activating new formats and regular events that enable meaningful engagement online & onsite and tend to the needs of our chapters (explore our squads, the chapter pathways initiative & community building efforts). Beyond our work at oikos International and despite a very challenging context, our community has remained proactive & thriving. We see how the impact of our students is evolving & how we are reaching far beyond the oikos network. The impact matrix is our new, ever-evolving attempt to capture all of these developments and we are happy to invite you to dive deeper!

Everything you read in this report is the result of the outstanding work of over 14 volunteers and 16 employees on the international level, along with hundreds of dedicated chapter members who wholeheartedly serve our growing community of student change agents. We are truly inspired by the collective effort of all the oikees out there, and how they practice a new kind of leadership in so many different, colorful ways. All these efforts would not be possible without the commitment, legacy and constant support of our alumni and the loyalty and advice of our partners and advisors. We are grateful to count on your support and

collaboration as we move ahead into a new year. A big thank you from the whole team!

Let’s keep on chasing the paths of the future we imagine,

Sophie Charrois Co-president 2020-2022

Darija Miletić Co-president 2021-2023

oikos in an ever-changing world Since our early days, oikos has been designed to innovate and turn challenges into opportunities constantly. With this mindset, as Covid-19 disrupted the world, we managed to react quickly to the new, unusual circumstances. We provided cutting-edge support to our chapters and kept all international programs and many chapter projects running online - an environment where oikos students have been working and thriving for several years already.

We now use this time to keep pushing the innovation forwards for students to be at ease with novelty, bold ideas & approaches in uncertain times.

oikos becomes a fully remote organization a truly international team

We started off 2021 as a fully remote organization. For the first time in its history, an oikos President was no longer working from the office in St. Gallen. This marked the end of a lengthy process of moving oikos work to the digital domain, which started all the way back in 2016. Starting with the oikos International Team moving to working remotely leaving the oikos International President as the sole remaining role in our organization to work from the historic oikos office. This early move to an online working environment made our day-to-day work mostly unaffected by the global pandemic as the remote working culture had been already established.

Going remote is intertwined in a broader strategic discussion about our ways of working and about setting a general direction for the future of oikos. Looking into the patterns of the future of work and management shows that there will be a focus on relational, participatory, virtual, purpose-driven and self-organized practices. Amidst, or even because of the incredible pace and fluctuation in a very creative and innovative student environment, oikos is already moving on these paths and perceives itself as a study case for re-designing our set up in collaboration with our network.

rethinking our governance

our shift to co-presidency Over the last three decades, our organization has been developing, evolving and adapting to the ever-changing world around us. Arguably, one of the most significant changes oikos has witnessed is a shift to the governance model in 2021, as we adopted a new co-presidency model. The new model aims to address certain shortcomings of the previous presidential one, as well as better handle the needs and challenges within the oikos Community, all while being more inclusive and future-proof.

The question of oikos governance was first raised back in 2018 and over the years it was discussed, ideas put forth and constitutional changes set up to pave the way for a new governing structure. With invaluable input from the community, international team and our advisors, the process intensified in 2020, leading to oikos embracing the co-presidency model in 2021 and not long after the first Co-president was elected.

At oikos International, we see our role in supporting the oikos Community.

With that in mind, we need supportive structures that enable us to nurture the diversity & thriving of the network. Our governance should be simple to understand, inclusive for all members and a role model for our chapters. At the same time, this is a moment to future-proof our organization in times of uncertainty and increased complexity: there is growing scientific evidence that leading alone is definitely not the way forward.

The role of the oikos president is to steward the oikos Community and the oikos International team while sharing the student experience of the community with external partners. Over the years, as the movement around sustainability gained in importance, the presidency has become a big responsibility with high workload & pressure. On the inside of oikos, decisions often have been handed over to the president, creating an unhealthy dependence and bottleneck between team, board and community.

What does it look like?

At any moment there are two oikos Co-presidents, each with a twoyear mandate, with their elections always a year apart. This allows for better continuity and improved efficiency in the handover process.

Both Co-presidents are elected at Legislative Meetings by the oikos Community.

The new model opens up more opportunities and allows us to seamlessly adapt to the pace of our community, while making the handovers smooth and less overwhelming. In the field of leadership it means we practice a more collaborative approach - our team is growing and our ideas around the leadership our world needs are forming as we move ahead. For us, that also means to move towards sustainability regarding how we work with each other and be bold and innovative with exploring new structures and practices

new oikos look and infrastructure

keeping up with the time and needs 2021 was a year marked by changes and innovation in many domains of our organization. The driving force behind most of them were the needs of the community and the necessity for updating our existing infrastructure, all while maintaining utmost simplicity and inclusiveness. Nowhere is that more evident than in the domain of Communications and IT, which haven’t seen many major changes over the years.

the new oikos branding A long and difficult project being shaped throughout the year was recreating the oikos brand, including a new visual identity and style in communication that best reflect what we do. It was evident that the previous oikos branding was in need of an update to meet the demands of an era of digital communications, primarily social media. The previous branding, over a decade old, was due for a change.

In the process of creating a new oikos brand we first looked at the community. Discussing it at previous events and gatherings gave a great insight into the needs and perceptions of oikos among oikees. Harvesting valuable information helped us create a base from where we could start and throughout the process. The feedback from both the members of the community and the international team helped us shape the brand, taking into consideration every comment or criticism, we were able to create a brand that defines oikos and aligns with our community’s vision of it.

The official launch of the new redefined oikos brand in September was met with great excitement and appreciation from many oikees, which was the best kind of reaction we could’ve hoped for. Alongside the brand we set up new platforms and resources for chapters to use, providing support and addressing their needs in terms of visual identity and communication.

the oiKosmos oiKosmos is a platform that serves as a big online hub with all the latest information from around the oikos world – from the upcoming community events, to opportunities and tools for students from the oikos network. It is a result of months of hard work of a team determined to provide a community platform for all oikos members, alumni as well as friends of the network. oiKosmos was launched officially in St. Gallen at the oikos Conference and has seen a growing number of oikees using it ever since.

The platform was envisioned as a starting point for all things oikos. It allows users to stay up to date with news and opportunities in oikos and partner networks, but also supports greater intra-network communication. It’s meant to better connect chapter members with their peers from other cities and countries, but also chapters among themselves. Lastly, with integrating Google Workspace into our work, we have opened new possibilities for chapter members in the form of various toolkits and resources our community members can use for their own activities.

The new website One of the most noticeable highlights of the year was the launch of a new oikos International website. With a new, fresh look and an easy to use layout, it makes it simple to find anything you’re looking for. On the other hand it also allows us to better communicate opportunities and showcase the amazing projects we and our chapters create.

exploring fundraising opportunities oikos enters the world of crowdfunding

The year behind us was all about bringing change to how we are structured and shaping our activities as an organization, which naturally made us focus on the pillars keeping it all together. Fundraising was one of the crucial aspects we put much of our attention on, as some of the new changes brought up new costs, we were determined not to let it affect any of our ongoing projects.

With that in mind, our fundraising team went out evaluating alternative methods of fundraising, which led to setting up new structures for financially supporting our work. The first innovation was in the form of individual donations. The new website allowed us to rework the way any person can individually contribute to our cause with ease and absolute clarity.

The second new method of fundraising came in the form of crowdfunding. With months of preparation beforehand we launched our first ever campaign in September of last year through the GlobalGiving Accelerator program. Once the campaign went live we were overwhelmed by the positive reception and support we received from both from within and beyond the oikos Community.

Thanks to this incredible support, we successfully completed the Accelerator program, making oikos a permanent member of GlobalGiving and keeping the campaign open beyond the thirteen days initially limited by the program length. The focus of this ‘pilot’ campaign was in most part to cover the financial cost of the shift to a co-presidency model and allow for a smooth transition. Motivated by the support, we kicked-off another campaign in December, aiming to provide support to our international programs.

The experience gained through the crowd-funding efforts has been valuable for the fundraising team and opens up new opportunities in the future.

$8,014 raised 59 donor

oikos leadership program

partly financed by

Building a more sustainable world requires a new form of leadership. Traditional models can’t support the drive for change - the world needs a new generation of conscious leaders, capable of handling this transition and creating thriving and flourishing communities. We recognize this need to address leadership and to prepare our community of students to consciously lead towards the wellbeing of people and the planet.

Our flagship Leadership Initiative LEAP aims to fill this need by building capacity in the oikos community with the necessary competencies, qualities, practices, tools and global network to become the conscious leaders we wish to see in the world. Since its launch in 2015 different subinitiatives have evolved within LEAP out of the needs of the community. In 2021, LEAP had 4 main sub-initiatives: LEAP Advanced, LEAP Researchers, LEAP Life and the beginning of LEAP Tools.

LEAP Advanced oikos LEAP Advanced is an intense 10-month-long leadership development program addressing personal development and the need to consciously lead yourself before leading others. The program challenges participants to explore the most daring questions in life as: What are my values? What is my purpose? How do we want to live, lead and learn together for a thriving, sustainable tomorrow?

As participants adopt and share the lessons learned in their oikos chapters and communities, they start to practice conscious leadership. The result is strengthened chapter performance and greater impact in their communities in line with the oikos mission to transform education for a sustainable world.

LEAP Advanced participants are all part of the oikos community with a main focus on chapter leaders and members and oikos International volunteers. We also invite active oikos Alumni as well as members in leadership roles of partner organizations to partake in the program.

The 2021 cohort kicked off their LEAP Advanced journey in March, with a total of 38 participants from 20 oikos chapters around the world. Over 10 months they took part in many different learning sessions, gatherings, reflections, and coaching addressing important personal development topics brought by them to the program.

The LEAP Advanced Program in 2021 was developed based on two main frameworks: the Theory U (Presencing Institute) and the 4 Fold Practice (Art of Hosting). Theory U supports the building of essential leadership capacities needed to address the root causes of today’s challenges, with the 4-Fold Practice used to support participants to create a culture of hosting.

We used both frameworks to create the 10-month LEAP learning journey. It was composed of 4 bi-monthly smaller U journeys, providing different experience based on learning elements and leadership and personal development topics. Participants decided on the topics of personal awareness and the GROW model, emotional intelligence, IKIGAI - living a purposeful life and creating cultures around resilience, commitment, compassion and equity, which were explored throughout the program.

Leading from the future as it emerges The mid-term meeting of the LEAP Advanced cohort in July was a hybrid event, with part of the participants joining in online and others coming together in Leysin, Switzerland. The onsite meeting with all its different learning activities is a highly appreciated event in the oikos community and a vital part of the LEAP Advanced experience. Participants take a dive into a week-long intensive leadership learning and practice and have the opportunity to deepen their connection to each other and to their personal development journey. The event this year was even more special because it was the first oikos in-person event since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

This year, 32 LEAP participants met up in Leysin. Guided by our amazing team of LEAP alumni coaches and program managers, the participants went through an intense agenda around learning workshops, wellbeing activities, reflection sessions, fun gatherings and time spent in nature which provided a fruitful platform for fostering relationship to self, others and nature and exploring their inner selves - emotions, purpose and the impact they want to have in the world and social skills.

2020 cohort in numbers

Anyone looking to build a career in sustainability should undoubtedly take part in the LEAP program! It truly is a transformative and insightful leadership experience.

Madeleine Bruce, Participant 2021

The LEAP experience has been transformative for me. Overall, it has provided me with improved self-awareness, allowing me to create my life compass. This facilitates navigation in our complex world with alignment regarding my personal vision, values, strengths and wheel of life.

Mathieu Shanks, Participant 2021

Leap has been an important journey in my personal development as well as preparing a sustainable roadmap for my professional development. Peer interactions introduced me to newer perspectives and the personal touch of 1:1 coaching was the most helpful element in achieving my personal goal.

Nishant Kumar, Participant 2021

It took one special friend who told me that LEAP is life changing to start this journey in 2019.

And it is! In LEAP there is always room to grow to grow with and through others. I continued as a peer coach which offered a whole new perspective - especially as the room changes from being hosted to host others.

Janina Hoffmann, Peer Coach 2021

LEAP Life track Many LEAP participants remain engaged within the initiative even after their cohort’s graduating. As a result of that a new sub-initiative which would later become LEAP Life was informally started at the end of the first LEAP Advanced cohort in 2016.

In a joint effort of the LEAP team and LEAP Alumni, it was shaped into a formal LEAP sub-initiative in 2020 with the vision of continuing the alumni development journey, fostering a new sense of ongoing learning, courageous practice and co-generation, in a community of diverse change agents.

All participants shape their individual experience by taking part in the Input & Brave sessions, forming peer groups or stepping up to design and run other elements that support their and the development of others.

LEAP Life has a self-led and online format, allowing greater flexibility and inclusion for all those who wish to prolong their LEAP journeys. Participants choose how they will get involved and join the elements and sessions that serve them best. In regular Strategy Calls the needs of the LEAP Life community are addressed and new formats may evolve.

LEAP Life Track in numbers

58+

participants

10+

sessions

LEAP Researchers’ track Many early career researchers find it difficult to pursue innovative, out-ofthe box research addressing urgent sustainability challenges, especially in the fields of economics and management. During their PhD studies, they often lack personal and professional support, and not only when it comes to their own projects.

They struggle to embrace their role of educators and often face the dominance of traditional theories and education methods at their institutions.

To address this issue, in 2020, we launched a pilot project of our leadership program LEAP Researchers’ Track with 12 early career researchers, aiming to address these challenges.

LEAP Researchers is aimed mainly for master students, PhD students or postdoctoral researchers who address sustainability challenges in their research and/or teaching, providing them an opportunity to develop personally and professionally.

It helps shape their perspective on changes in economics and management education required to face the challenges, while better understanding their role in pushing these changes by becoming well informed, reflective, and purpose-driven change agents.

The first cohort kicked off at the end of 2020 and over the next nine months went on a journey addressing both personal and professional topics. Topics such as getting to know their strengths, art of convening, social media and research were covered. All participants had a 1:1 coach and a possibility to interact with each other in a peer to peer group.

This pilot project was successfully concluded in June 2021 and the next cohort is expected to kick off in spring of 2022. We aim to turn LEAP Researchers’ Track into an important development program with longlasting effects on future professors and researchers participating.

The LEAP Researcher’s track has helped me set the stage for my PhD in the very beginning. The program helped me identify and set up the environment I need to thrive in. Additionally, I learned to apply hands-on tools to improve my way of working.

Lea Trogrlic, Participant 2020/21

It was a pleasure to get to know fellow oikees from so many different places and to explore with them the meaning and practice of our research in the LEAP Researchers’ Track. It inspired my academic work and opened up new perspectives.

Oliver Braunschweig, Participant 2020/21

The program helped me reflect on my personal values and strengths and supported me in using them in my private and professional life. The program with its diverse people and topics was a great source of inspiration for current and future projects and personal developments.

Tabea Bereuther, Participant 2020/21

LEAP Chapter track The impact of LEAP programs is far reaching and many of our chapter members want to bring the motivation and what they learn back to their communities on local levels. In order to cater to their needs and further empower them to bring the LEAP philosophy to local chapters and beyond, in 2020 we kicked off the LEAP Chapter Track.

In this sub-initiative, chapters get to work with a coach, empowering local presidents and board members, guiding them through their leadership challenges and encouraging them to reflect on their organizational strengths and weaknesses. Coaches also provide insights on how to engage community members, along with the tools to do so.

The Chapter Days were a community gathering, part of the Chapter Track. It was an opportunity for all chapters to join in the online sessions and learn more about oikos International and the possibilities it provides.

This year featured a special keynote speaker Otto Scharmer, the creator of Theory U - one of the key frameworks used in LEAP. Participants of Chapter Track were continuously encouraged to organize micro LEAPs at local levels with their chapters, with the support of the alumni coaches, fostering personal and collective development. Through the micro LEAPs - a mini experience of LEAP Advanced - the overall formula is applied and adapted to suit the environment of the chapter, while still providing the LEAP experience. In 2021 our Graz, Copenhagen and St. Gallen chapters successfully hosted their own versions of micro LEAP.

LEAP Tools LEAP Chapter Track is currently in the process of transformation into the LEAP Tools. There’s been a growing interest among oikos members, partners and friends in building LEAP experiences for their communities and working environments.

To address the demand, a working group of volunteers has been shaping an online platform with a living set of resources, guides and a network of support to scale up the oikos community journey to learn and practice conscious leadership and culture.

The LEAP Tools aim to support the diversity of contexts, allowing the oikos community to develop a LEAP journey for their communities at their own pace and to adapt the structure and topics to their chapter or environment, considering their own wishes & needs. Various exercises, guides & workshops created by oikees for the oikos community will be available on the online platform. It is expected to launch at the beginning of 2022.

transforming education initiative Driving change in higher education is in the core of the oikos mission and everything we do as an organization. We strive to bring sustainability to curricula of universities across the world, with a special focus on the field of economics and management education. For over three decades, oikos has been at the forefront of student-driven efforts to adapt the curriculum to meet the demands of today’s world and make education more sustainability-oriented.

During that time, we’ve seen many projects with a goal to support both students and faculty eager drive change at their own universities and business schools. Whether it’s on their own or teaming up with other organizations, our members have greatly contributed to bringing awareness on the necessity of change and actually transforming their education at many of the campuses where oikos chapters are present.

The oikos International Curriculum Change Initiative was created to best manage these projects and better connect them with each other. Last year the initiative had seen some changes, primarily changing the name of it to Transforming Education Initiative to encompass everything that is today a part of it. Within the initiative are oikos Academy, oikos Camp, Curriculum Change Squad, Case Program and Positive Impact Rating.

oikos curriculum academy oikos Academies have been an important part of our portfolio of projects since the break of the millennium. Over the years the Academies have taken different forms and shapes, sometimes focusing on specific fields or topics (Finance, Economics, Development, PhD), but always involving students wishing to see change in their education.

In its current iteration, it is shaped as Curriculum Academy since 2019 - a platform to reflect and learn about innovative economics and management programs and teaching approaches that are designed to address current global environmental and societal challenges.

This year’s Curriculum Academy was organized in cooperation between our Curriculum Change Initiative and our St. Gallen chapter from February 26 to 28, in an online setting due to the pandemic. The main novelty of this year’s Academy was the involvement of LEAP’s researchers track participants.

Under the motto: “Bringing together early career researchers and students for curriculum change” we hosted events to learn together and kicked off our Curriculum Change Coaching Program. For the latter, LEAP researchers underwent coaching training and they were paired with oikos chapter members to support them in their transformative work.

Over the three-day workshop, we’ve had a number of inspiring speakers, touching up on academic research, methods of teaching and learning along with insightful coaching sessions. As a part of the program, the Academy was followed up by the Open evenings, hosted locally by oikos St. Gallen, opening up the doors for students to focus on their university.

Over the course of four evenings, several panel discussions were held, delving into the topics of sustainability on campus. It provided important insights into the current state of sustainability at the university, presenting its PIR rating and discussing the ways in which the curriculum could be shaped more accordingly, highlighting the value of making student voices heard.

oikos curriculum camp In 2021 we hosted the first oikos Curriculum Camp - and outdoor-style successor to the oikos In Residence workshops. Taking place in Sestriere, Italy from August 23 to 28, the lift of international traveling restrictions meant that we would see the first onsite event around curriculum change since February 2020. This picturesque town was the perfect fit to disconnect from the outer world and fully focus on our goal of transforming management and economics education for a sustainable world.

The purpose of the Camp was to provide a space for international teams to develop concrete projects related to transforming education, some of which were previously initiated at the oikos FutureLab. Over the course of a week, we had a goal to support the development of participant’s knowledge and empower them to carry out their projects. Through them, the teams would produce a number of specific tools which can be useful to the oikos community in our work to integrate sustainability into economics and management education.

The Camp had an interactive program supporting the groups in further developing their projects, and offering training sessions on specific skills such as educational innovation, interactive facilitation, and creative communication. A total of 33 participants were provided guidance on how to carry their projects successfully to completion, starting with project management, through creating a mission and vision, synergy and feedback sessions, finishing up with upscaling to increase the impact of their projects.

The week was finalized with a presentation of all the projects to the public, however due to health concerns, we had to stick to an online format, hosting an open online Conference for everyone to join in and learn about the projects. This also gave participants the opportunity to showcase their achievements, gather feedback and attract more volunteers to help with implementation.

oikos camp in numbers

33 participants 8 projects 7 days

Positive Impact Rating is a rating conducted by students, for students. It is a one of a kind rating that let’s students around the world assess their business schools on how they perceive their positive impact in the world.

Since 2020, when it was officially launched, it has grown both in the number of schools rated and even more significantly - the number of students participating, which tripled this year.

The Positive Impact Rating 2021 Report was launched at the virtual PRME Global Forum on 17 June 2021. A total of 46 schools from 21 countries rated and 9000 students surveyed, with oikos chapters running PIR survey campaigns in several of those schools across the world. The results served as the launchpad for student-led changes in several of the schools included.

The data collection in the schools has been organized and led by students’ associations, who distributed the PIR survey across campus to their fellow students. They provided an incredible wealth of constructive comments on how their schools can increase their positive impact, with a clear consensus on what practices they should part ways with and which they should embrace.

46 schools

21 countries

9000 students

The overall PIR score of the business school is used to position the school on one of five levels: beginning, emerging, progressing, transforming, pioneering. The characterizations of the different levels refer to the developmental stage of the business school.

The PIR was created by concerned business school experts together with global NGOs – WWF, Oxfam, and UN Global Compact. International student associations oikos, AIESEC and Net Impact are partnering with PIR, which is also supported by VIVA Idea (Costa Rica), Mission Possible Foundation & Fehr Advice, both from Switzerland.

The Positive Impact Rating is managed by members of oikos International team in charge of the rating’s outreach, marketing and student engagement. Their work on the planning, launch and running of the 2021 further cements oikos’ central role in the growth of the PIR.

oikos case program oikos Case Writing Competition is our longrunning project which encourages the writing of high-quality cases on sustainability topics that can stimulate innovative teaching and learning experiences. The program aims at giving students the possibility to approach their faculty to start embedding sustainability into curricula through the use of case studies.

The competition was launched back in 2003 and since then has seen hundreds of cases competing in different categories and fields of sustainability. Over the years thousands of students and professors worldwide have benefited from the cases in our Case collection applied in management, entrepreneurship and finance education.

At the moment, the program is undergoing major changes which will see it take up an entirely new shape and format. As a result the competition was paused in 2021 in order to focus on researching and developing an innovative program based on feedback we gathered from surveys this year. This exciting transformation will bring a brand new case platform with not only new content but also new possibilities for engagement.

curriculum change squad Curriculum Change (CC) Squad consists of informal online gatherings for oikos chapters to discuss topics that might be relevant and contribute to their own transforming education projects.

The meetings take place on last Friday of each month and have been hosted by a wide range of experts, dealing with matters such as storytelling, engaging with conversations about transforming education with faculty staff or useful tools such as Positive Impact Rating.

This year, the Squad has gathered more than 13 oikos chapters, in addition to other partner institutions and individual participants who engaged in meaningful conversations with transformation agents.

The Squad has empowered local projects in individual chapters such as the launch of opinion-gathering surveys in universities of Graz and Lausanne, the empowerment of a joint curricula-review process in Barcelona or the creation of an educational database in Vienna.

a community of changemakers a decade of FutureLab oikos FutureLab is our flagship event with a goal to bring together our community, open up networking opportunities and strengthen our actions for integrating sustainability in economics and management curricula. It is the place where the oikos Community meets to build partnerships among oikos members, but also with our alumni network, partners, faculty and many others.

The first ever FutureLab took place in St. Gallen all the way back in 2011, which meant this year’s edition marks the 10th anniversary of the conference. Originally intended to take place in autumn of 2020, the pandemic brought changes to our plans, moving it to the spring of 2021 and shifting to an online conference format. This shift allowed us to explore some innovative options and formats when organizing sessions.

FutureLab 21’s program focused on the topic ‘Justice Shift - Building a passage for a just world’, exploring ideas and best practices in establishing justice in a transition to a more sustainable world. New policies or changing practices affect certain social groups more than others. We discussed those inequalities, along with ensuring fair measures towards all stakeholders and providing a stage for everyone to communicate their claims.

Participants had the opportunity to attend sessions by experts in the field, who introduced certain innovative concepts, ideas addressing systemic challenges and raising the importance of humanizing climate change to bring justice. The conference also emphasized the insights from the community, inviting participants to state their points, with the belief that everyone’s individual experience is valuable and something to learn from.

The workshops at the conference dove deep into the topic of justice, finding potential solutions and actions to drive the just transition to a more sustainable world. FutureLab proved to be a prolific platform for collaborating and co-creating, resulting in creation of a degrowth themed oikos squad, which met up regularly long after the conference ended. It also gave birth to the Sustainable Finance squad which would later go on to create its career-path project.

Every FutureLab is a result of hard work put in by an international organizing team made up of oikos chapter members and coordinated by oikos International.

FutureLab 2021 in numbers

41

participants

16

chapters

13

organizations

Rethink2React - oikos conference 2021 Annual oikos gatherings are the important pillars supporting our community, as they form connections and drive action between oikos chapters, individual members and alumni as well as those beyond our network. The biggest of these gatherings is the International Chapter Conference, for the first time hosted in Reims in 2010 as the oikos Spring Meeting it’s been a regular entry to the oikos Calendar every year.

The conference is a collaboration between oikos International and oikos chapters who host it in their home cities. A different chapter hosts the conference each year, addressing topics that are pressing issues or of great significance to the respective cities, while still relevant on the field of sustainability on a global scale. One of the greatest values the conference brings is cultural exchange and opening up of new perspectives on some familiar issues.

Our goal is to connect and inspire the community to exchange and collaborate together, share and discuss thoughts and various ideas on the topic, think outside of the box and learn from each other. All of these insights and learnings, the participants take back to their chapters and local communities with a chance to put it into practice and create impact in theirs and lives of others.

This year the conference took place in St. Gallen Switzerland. The local chapter merged it with oikos Conference project - its long running annual conference, which over the years has become a household name at the university. This proved to be a perfect formula as local students got to connect with oikos members from European chapters attending, but also an opportunity for us to present our work and the work of our partners.

Over the course of four day, participants could hear from some interesting speakers from all corners of the world joining in person or by video call. The organizing team from St. Gallen made sure to provide us with diverse topics and insights from many different fields related to sustainability.

The conference proved to be an amazing platform to connect within and beyond the oikos community and was a long awaited in person gathering for oikees in almost two years.

legislative meetings and assemblies Legislative assemblies are bi-annual gatherings of oikos chapters to discuss and vote on important topics related to the work of oikos International. Traditionally, these meetings were held in person just before big community gatherings like FutureLab and International Chapter Conference. However, due to the pandemic, they became online events in 2020, a switch of format which ended up benefiting the community, making the legislative process more inclusive and engaging.

The new online format remained, despite in-person events once again becoming possible as the restrictions loosened. Another minor change to the format followed, which made Legislative Meetings standalone events, no longer tied to another community gathering. In 2021 there were a total of three Legislative Meetings - two regular ones in April and October and an extraordinary assembly in August at which the first oikos Co-president was elected.

regional meetings Regional meetings are gatherings of chapters within the same region to discuss relevant topics bringing them together. Traditionally an in-person event is organized in each region, however since the global pandemic disrupted international travel, no regional meetings took place in 2021, however the regional connection among chapters was retained through regular online meetings.

community hours Community hours are monthly hour and a half online gatherings for the oikos Community. Originally intended to provide support to chapter members amid the pandemic, they evolved into regular sessions where each month a different topic is discussed. The space is also used to address the issues and needs of the community, as well as present new developments and opportunities oikos International provides in support of the chapters. Community hours showed to be popular with both active and alumni oikees joining in every first Tuesday of the month.

chapter engagement oikos chapters work tirelessly in order to implement our shared vision, promote environmental awareness and bring positive change to the world. This global network of chapter organizes more than 200 projects every year. Here, we compiled just a small selection of local chapter projects in 2021.

oikos Reims: Ethical Fashion show oikos Reims organized an ethical fashion show presenting local sustainable brands, raising awareness on the opportunities for sustainable fashion.

oikos Jamshedpur: crafts for the visually impaired On 28th and 29th of October, SIGMA-oikos set up stalls for the candles and diyas made by the visually impaired members of Udaan NGO , with support of local students.

oikos Barcelona: local beach cleanup The Barcelona chapter organized their annual cleanup of a local beach in cooperation with fellow students and student associations from the university.

oikos Tbilisi: oikos Junior meetings The Tbilisi hosted students from local public schools for an online educational event, where they had the chance to learn about sustainability at an earlier age.

oikos HKUSTU: Impact Case Competition oikos HKUSTU organized a case study competition in partnership with Swire CocaCola, exploring the topic of circular economy.

oikos Lugano: keyhole garden project oikos Lugano and the Franklin University community jointly created a small Keyhole Garden . An initiative which will see the chapter and students care for it long-term.

oikos Lausanne: second-hand fashion event Our Lausanne chapter’s second hand returned this year for a new - and memorable - edition on November , where anyone could bring in to sell their old clothes.

oikos St. Andrews: sustainable bag contest St. Andrews chapter held a contest for designs to apply on a wine bag that is sustainably sourced and made and hold two wine bottles - great for a trip to the beach.

oikos St. Gallen: running dinner event oikos St. Gallen in collaboration with IGNITE Movement hosted a running dinner event for exchanging experiences and stories from the field of sustainability.

oikos Vienna: climate strike action oikos Vienna was a part of a local Fridays For Future strike, joining in the human circle around Ringstraße , showing how comfy it can be without cars.

oikos Bangalore: race on Local Bangalore chapter organized a virtual cycling and running event RACEON as a way to get the local community active and raise awareness of sustainable transport.

oikos Prague: careers in sustainability event oikos Prague hosted a local expert exploring the concept of ESG and ESG consulting, and preparedness for sustainable finance and non-financial reporting.

oikos Berlin: Impact Fair 2021 The project in Berlin focused on exploring collaboration among sectors and industries especially when faced with humanity's biggest challenge - climate change .

oikos Lisbon: podcast oikos Lisbon created a podcast call Green is the New Black featuring co-hosts, special guests and roundtables it tackles the various sustainability topics and challenges.

oikos Baku: sustainability debate The Baku chapter hosted a debate at the local university, addressing the dilemma of modernization that whether it is sustainable or not.

new chapters In 2021 a total of 5 new chapters have joined the global oikos network, opening up oikos opportunities to new universities in Africa, Asia and Europe.

The new oikos chapters were opened in these cities:

Cairo Egypt

Istanbul Turkey

Lugano

Switzerland

Nottingham UK

Kano

Nigeria

oikos alumni Over more than three decades of oikos existence, many students have come and gone through chapters at different universities, each of them with their unique oikos journey and their own story to tell. These stories are highly valued within the oikos community as they have the potential to inspire and motivate active members to take action or shape their futures.

It’s for this reason that we’ve been providing a platform for our alumni to share their stories in the forms of Alumni Portraits. Through these portraits, the alumni go back in time to their student years, when they were a part of a local oikos chapter, looking back at what they’ve learnt and how oikos impacted their lives.

These stories serve to inspire the community in different ways - some oikees may share the challenges an alumni faced a long time ago and look to overcome them, others see role models in them, getting motivated to take action. It is also an opportunity for students get to know the careers of the alumni, most of whom remained in the field of sustainability, providing valuable inputs for their own future career paths.

alumni engagement As a way for alumni to stay connected and engage with the oikos network, we regularly organize special events and gatherings for them. In the wake of a pandemic, we were forced to stay in the digital space once more, organizing an online Alumni Weekend in May 2021. It is always a fruitful platform for our alumni, sparking new friendships and expanding their network, while reuniting with some familiar faces.

We constantly aim to integrate alumni into the oikos Community more, not only because we value what they bring with their experience, but also because we want to provide them with opportunities that we create within our network. Alongside the special events, the alumni are regularly encouraged and invited to participate in our conferences and many of them are actively engaged working on or supporting many oikos projects.

One of such projects is the oikos Homecoming Project which aims to go back to the roots of oikos, diving deeper into our history, uncovering and learning from our historical materials. It spent the year gathering documents and information of all sorts and from different sources, compiling learnings and laying the groundwork for the current infrastructure that would support the development of the HOMEcoming project.

Our alumni played an important role in that project, some by being a part of the team, carrying out the extensive research and others by being the sources themselves, providing important information and resources.

oikos International Team oikos International Team is made up of the Board and the Management. oikos International Board is made up of volunteer members who are elected by the oikos Community at Legislative Meetings by the end of each year. The term of a Board Member or VP is year-long, while they can run and be elected for a maximum of two terms. oikos International Management is made up of volunteers and paid employees. Both are selected through open applications and evaluation by our HR department. Volunteers have a working week of 10 hours, while employees are working part-time, with the exception of the Copresidents.

Co-presidents are part of both the Board and Management as the only full time employees elected by the oikos Community

meet our team

At the end of 2021 oikos International counts 7 Board Members(VP), 12 part-time Management Team Members, most of the Volunteer Members of the Management Team have moved on, as we are in a process of redefining new Volunteer roles at the beginning of 2022.

The following oikees have greatly contributed to the oikos Team in at some part of the year 2021.

Curriculum Change

Partnerships, Impact VP 20/21

Laia Batchelli Abad

Neema Balolebwami Nelly Chapter Membership

Community VP 21/22

Sophie Charrois

Jonas Charrois

Robreta Dominguès

Janani Ganapathi

Alexandra Horvath

Karolin Lemke

Giuliana Longworth

Nicolás Aguila

Co-president 2020-22

Lenka Kepkova

Curriculum Change, LEAP

Mehraj Aliyev

IT

Stefan Krasić

Communications

Curriculum Change

LEAP

Anna Kurth

Community, Organizationa Dev VP 21/22

Case Program

IT, HR, Legal VP 20-22

François Bernier

LEAP, Administration

Positive Impact Rating

Arthur Mària

Yari Marquina Amador

Community VP 19-21

Marketing VP 21/22

Legal VP 20/21, Co-president 2021-23

J. Christopher Proctor

Strategy & IT VP 19-21

Luisa Pütz

Kameswaran Sarma

Curriculum Change

Gregory Vrient HR

John Watt

Positive Impact Rating

Ikshek Misri

Darija Miletić

Alumni, Partnership VP 20/21

Stephen Snider

Sustainable Finance, Partnerships

IT

Stephen Snider

Michael Winter

Sustainable Finance, Partnerships

Curriculum Change

Elena Müller

Team Development, Partnerships VP 21/22

Adriana Troxler LEAP, Coach

Niklas Ziemann Fundraising

oikos International Team is also supported by Working Groups of Volunteer chapter members and alumni oikees, alongside members of partnering organizations and friends of the network.

advisory council Our advisors provide tremendous support for oikos. They accompany us on a longterm basis – both on an international as well as on a local level. All of them provide a strong platform for us by sharing knowledge, establishing contacts and helping us identify effective leverage points to pursue the oikos mission. We are pleased to introduce members of the oikos Advisory Council below:

Jonas Haertle

Daniel Macmillen Voskoboynik

Katrin Muff

Yemi Makinde

Clementine Robert

Mark Wade

Judith Walls

oikos represented at events •

Sophie Charrois as a thought leader in goodaftercovid, March 24

•

Sophie Charrois interviewed by pcdn

•

Sophie Charrois joined earth day marathon

•

Sophie Charrois joined ABIS conference, April 28

•

Sophie Charrois as panelist at PRME global virtual conference, June

•

Sophie Charrois as judge in Green Gown Awards

oikos publications •

Contributed a chapter in “Responsible Management Education: The PRME Global Movement”, December

oikos partners Our projects would have been impossible without our partners. Thank you for your support in terns of funding, ideas, knowledge, guidance and outreach.

financial

Non-financial

outlook 2022

With this fruitful year, marked by change coming to an end we look forward to 2022 and what it has in store for us. 2021 gave us many things and brought about new ideas which helped both our projects and our structure evolve. We will take the learnings from it with us and make the best out of the next one, in no way

Be Informed, Get Involved, Make a Difference!

Become a Member Start a New Chapter Connect as an Alumni Join our Faculty Support us as a Donor

oikos-international.org info@oikos-international.org