Being, learning and leading in community
Since the beginning, oikos International has been tending spaces to get together, exchange perspectives, and learn from and with each other. The intercultural & intergenerational experiences of oikees worldwide feed into a richness of stories & memories. Together, we weave a support network that we draw on for years to come, fueling critical relationships & our energy for our work in the world.
International Chapter Conference - The International Chapter Conference is an annual on-site conference, hosted and developed by one or a small group of local chapters. oikos International supports the chapter team and contributes to the program with community building activities that help the participants to connect and get inspired for the opportunities within the network (so-called Community Gatherings)
Chapter Pathways Initiative - Our chapters are accompanied on their journey through the semester, both by their fellow chapters and oikos International. Chapter Pathways enables us to accompany each chapter individually, yet together through a core journey (semester kick-off, regional calls, semester reflections), 1-on-1 check-ins and the possibility to get a chapter coach.
oikos Squads - Our Squads are the perfect opportunity to connect with other international students and start a conversation, project, or any other format in the fields you are interested in. Squads are self-organized and can use other oikos International platforms to come together (eg. oikos Camp).
Alumni gatherings - Our alumni are a valuable part of our community. In a mostly self-organised way, the oikos alumni gather on a local or more international level to stay in touch and exchange on topics relevant for them. The events are always open to current oikees. Current examples: the Unconference.
AGORA (formerly Community Hours) - The oikos AGORA is our virtual market place where anyone from the community is invited to join. It's a online meet-up space happening twice a month on Tuesdays and always has a topic at its heart. Anyone can host an AGORA.
Future Lab - The FutureLab is a conference that invites oikees & friends of the community into exploration, co-creation and exchange over a certain question that is put at the center. After 10 years, the FutureLab will soon be fully organized by volunteers from the community. oikos International supports future the volunteer team and contributes to the program with community building activities that help the participants to connect and get inspired for the opportunities within the network (so-called Community Gatherings)
Chapters' action on campus & international initiatives
In order to contribute to the change we envision, we focus on empowering and encouraging student change agents and actively creating shifts in the way we learn and teach, while spreading awareness for sustainability through our actions. More details on specific initiatives of oikos international can be found below. You can learn more about our strategic thoughts here - the way we approach strategy is highly agile and reflects developments in real time. Our Impact Matrix helps us to coordinate, track and trace the impact of our work, both in chapters & on the international level.
| What happens in the chapters |
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On the international level, we see our strongest contribution in supporting the work on the ground, therefore we focus on tending and supporting this community of student change agents in several different ways. Our work in leadership, community and transforming education is strongly related in one joint narrative: Our times call for a new generation of relational leadership. We at oikos help students to grow and develop the competencies needed to navigate complexity. The link to our work on the education system is that we see our universities and business schools as great places to foster these competencies and to support individuals in becoming sustainability leaders with a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. We accompany them in the process, both on the individual and the institutional level. As the students venture out to bring change to their own university ecosystem, they grow and develop and practice what they preach.
Our community of student change agents drives this change towards sustainability in many creative and self-organized ways that are adapted to their unique contexts. Around 50 student groups, our so-called chapters, influence their local university ecosystems as they walk the talk: they transform their campus, host gatherings and events and reform how and what they learn. Check out our chapter’s social media channels for the most recent examples! The local groups feed their developments back into an inspiring international community of like-minded student leaders. Next to geographical regions with vibrant exchange between individual chapters, we have a thematic layer with squads that embark on inter-cultural conversations and projects around topics that are relevant for the whole community.
How do we learn together?
What do we learn, how do we learn it? How and by whom are these decisions made, and how often are they revised? Our students are important drivers in their university ecosystems and have direct influence on their campus and beyond. And: they write stories about how they co-create change on the ground. In order to support the local efforts, oikos International creates several platforms to exchange, learn from cultural differences & success stories, and opens spaces where students and their allies can craft future pathways together.
Transforming Education Squad - The TE Squad is a monthly online gathering of chapter members and other students working on curriculum change at the local level. They share experiences, ideas, and resources. They alternate between theoretical (Doughnut Economics, Degrowth, etc) and methodological/strategic topics (how to do a student survey, how to encourage participation online, etc).
oikos Academy Open Evenings - The oikos Academy is a format for students and early career researchers developed and facilitated by oikos student members. Together, we reflect and learn about the current developments in business and economics education, and the status quo of sustainability integration.
oikos Camp - the camp is an on-site gathering for teams working on projects related to sustainability in economics and business education. At Camp, teams have a chance to develop their skills and focus on their projects, while getting inspired by their peers and making use of the cross-pollination of ideas.
oiCases (In review) - Our plan is to connect the heritage of a case competition run for over 20 years with our future-oriented work and the stories that students write on the ground. In one direction, the old cases invite users to study sustainable development in real time, in the other, we will rewrite the meaning of cases within oikos & the world of business education by establishing a practice of collective storytelling.
Positive Impact Rating - The Positive Impact Rating (PIR) is a business school rating conducted by students and for students. Students coordinate a rating survey that asks students 20 questions in seven relevant impact dimensions. oikos was part of the design of the PIR and continues to closely support the initiative. The most recent edition involved several oikos Chapters - see the report here.
How do we lead together?
We are dedicated to empower our oikees in their change agent journey! Our leadership initiatives aim for the personal and professional development of our participants, equipping them with knowledge, tools, skills, capacities, traits and inner dimensions (mindset) to become conscious leaders who are proactive and capable of creating change towards sustainability and the well-being of people and planet. Our leadership development initiatives equip students & their allies with what they need to facilitate change in their environment:
LEAP YOUth is an intense 10-month-long leadership development journey that inspires young people to become more responsible and sustainable in their decision making, it challenges participants to face the most daring questions in life – Who am I? What is my purpose? What impact do I want to have on people and the planet? - and to develop the skills necessary to become positive contributors to the benefit of their communities and our world. It helps them to have an empowered voice and encourages them to be proactive about the change.
We invite Early Career Researchers (inside or outside of the oikos community) for a 9-month program that focuses on participants’ personal development and capacity building, alongside providing support in the field of research and teaching. It helps shape their perspective on transforming education and prepares them to face the challenges in their role as well informed, reflective, and purpose-driven change agents and allies to our students.
The LEAP tools are a living set of resources and guides to help oikos students, alumni, partners and friends of oikos on the journey to conscious leadership. It supports you to practice conscious leadership and develop yourself and your community in the following areas inspired by the Inner Development Goals:
Learn more and access all LEAP Tools here! Exciting resources like the ultimate 5-step guide to setting up your own leadership journey with your community await you!
The LEAP Life Track is the self-led track organised by engaged LEAP alumni. It has informally started at the end of the first LEAP Advanced cohort in 2016. Everyone contributes to design and runs the track with ideas, feedforward and active participation, stepping up and taking the responsibility for sessions or elements. In this way LEAP alumni keep a space to continue supporting each other in their personal development.