Letter from the Presidents

Dear oikees, dear friends of our increasingly international community of student change agents,

2020 has been a turbulent year full of open windows and mastered challenges for us at oikos. With a situation that unraveled the complexity of our world to a new extent, we have been experiencing a global turning point with regards to the student voice, how it is being perceived

Throughout the year, we observed the need and willingness of several institutions to grant students the steering position and let their ideas shape the paths of education, economics and management. The shift to the virtual realm allowed us to offer these voices the stage they deserve and the space they need to express their perspectives. Events like the UN Global Compact Leaders summit, the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative Webinar, Business Schools Sustainability events (e.g. ESCP in Berlin, Imperial College in London), the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education Global Forum, to name a few, the attention of mainstream media outlets like the Financial Times. Early in 2020 we were happy to co-launch Positive Impact Rating - the tool that grants first-hand access to students’ perception of sustainability and positive impact of their education. After the initial round, we’re already seeing first schools picking up the resulting data as a starting point for multi-stakeholder reflections and actions to move ahead.

Now more than ever, we at oikos International see our role in encouraging and empowering students and getting them ready for action and engagement with local stakeholders like faculty, universities or businesses, so they can take the lead in cocreating the more just and sustainable future. Our well-established formats like LEAP and the Spring meeting but also the new, innovative projects like the NexGenLead or the Curriculum Change Academy, and several chapter days and Regional Meetings brought the oikos community together. Bridging the physical distance, it sparked cross-cultural exchange which inspired outstanding projects of our chapters on the local level and new ideas, while also strengthening cross chapter collaboration. In the context of a drastically changing world, oikos’ vision and mission appear increasingly relevant and acute, clearly showcasing a destination and several important steps and leverages towards this future.

With the pandemic entering our everyday lives, the virtual world has become a truly tangible reality, as most of us had to shift to working remotely. The oikos community, and in particular the oikos International team, started exploring the virtual working environment back in 2016, becoming something of a pioneer and constant-

ly exploring new, creative approaches ever since. This is what made us largely unaffected, prepared us and helped adapt quickly to the sudden shift online, once the virus forced the world into their homes. Within just one month, we reimagined all of our events while providing our community with tools and methods to adapt to the online environment. We admire the way our chapters faced the challenges, transforming them into beautiful opportunities for cross-chapter collaborations and new ways of relating beyond their own campuses. We are certain that these are only the first steps of evolving the oikos network, making it more connected and interactive.

Despite all challenges 2020 brought to us as a global society, we at oikos can look back to a year of independently walking the talk while making a leveraged, collective positive impact together with our chapters and partners. The pandemic makrs the beginning ofa new era and we, as a student initiative, sense that it brings greater opportunities for us to contribute to a greater change in society and in our own community as such. Looking forward to what is emerging in 2021, we sense that it is time for us to lean even further out of the windows opening in the field of higher education & sustainability. contribute even more confidently at the tables where changes are manifested both on the local & the global level, and, first and foremost, to get our organization and community ready for the stormy seas that approach us on the horizon. Strengthening bonds within the community and directing the energy needed towards clarifying and updating structures, processes and information flows, are crucial to walk the talk in a way that’s sustainable for the planet and the people and adapted to the complexity of the 21st century.

Everything you read in this report is the result of the outstanding work of over 60 volunteers and 14 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 truly 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 further chase the paths of the future we imagine,

Sophie Charrois President 2020/2021

Clémentine Robert President 2019/2020