The New Normal Is More Sustainable

A year of gradual return to normality, after the restrictions due to the pandemic, and one number sums it up: 3,739 Bocconi students spent a period of study abroad, equal to the pre-Covid level. At the same time, a decisive step forward was made on the sustainability and inclusion front, with numerous initiatives in research, teaching and campus life. Many eloquent data emerged from the 2021 Sustainability Report, which was promoted and coordinated by the University's Sustainability Committee – here are a few. About 600 scientific publications were produced, 145 of which are on the subject of sustainability (122 last year); the creation of the REPAiR Lab (Responsible, Patient and Reliable Finance Lab) and activities and initiatives related to research; the 3,854 hours of teaching on sustainability topics (up from 3,770 last year); the creation of the MSc in Transformative Sustainability in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano and the reconfirmation of first place in the world for the Masem Master in the Eduniversal Best Master Ranking; the publication of the first Inclusive Gender Equality Plan and the Alias Career initiative; the inauguration of the Bocconi Sport Center open to the whole city. And then, participation in the Unicore project, University Corridor for Refugees and the commitment to students fleeing from other countries, which in 2022 saw the creation of a specific project dedicated to Ukrainian students.

The 2021 Sustainability Report goes more deeply into a theme expressed in the Vision 2030 and in the Bocconi Strategic Plan 2021-2025, and lays out the University's actions in the light of three guiding principles: Empower, inspire the future protagonists of sustainable change; Embrace, develop a sustainable Bocconi; Engage, be leaders in facing the challenges of sustainability.

"The events of the last two years have accelerated the increasing awareness of the connections between the environment, society and the economy," explains the Rector of Bocconi, Gianmario Verona. "The experience of this period has taught us that to face the challenges of sustainable capitalism a systemic approach is necessary, within which it is necessary to explore the new opportunities made available by technology, including in the field of teaching and research." With the same energy, as Bocconi Managing Director Riccardo Taranto underlines, "The University has continued to work on all aspects of sustainability, with numerous initiatives conducted in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion, aimed at making Bocconi an increasingly inclusive University, attentive to the needs of students, teachers, collaborators and society in general. At this time, in particular, we recall the initiatives of support and inclusion of researchers, students and refugees from Ukraine."

Empower
A principle that starts from the commitment to represent excellence in research and teaching. On this front, the ERC Grants hosted by Bocconi rose to 49 (40 in 2020), while there were 597 scientific publications by Bocconi academics of which 145 on sustainability. The number of events on these issues is also high: 141, compared to 70 in the previous year and 100 in 2019. On the teaching front, there were 100 courses on sustainability topics (88 in 2020 and 26 in 2019), as well as increased enrollment in this type of course (6,157 compared to 5,361 in 2020 and 3,062 in 2019), and 861 theses were written on these topics. Among the new programs is the Master of Science in Transformative Sustainability by Bocconi and Politecnico di Milano, developed in 2021 and active starting from 2022 with the aim of training professionals who have an integrated perspective on the theme of sustainability. Regarding the faculty, an interesting fact that emerges is the internationality of Bocconi professors: today the core faculty has 398 members, 23.6% of whom have an international passport and 45.5% have a doctorate from abroad.

Embrace
In 2021, more than 35.7 million euros were allocated to make higher education increasingly accessible (31.7M in 2020). These funds allowed 1 in 4 students to benefit. The international students welcomed during the year (foreign enrolled + incoming) rose to 4,550, compared to 3,665 in 2020 during the hardest part of the pandemic, thus returning to pre-Covid levels. 2021 was also the year of the first Inclusive Gender Equality Plan, which provided a detailed picture of inclusiveness at the University and of the numerous initiatives related to this issue, such as the activation of Career Alias, a regulation on identities that allows students who are making a gender transition to use a name other than the legal one. In terms of promoting a culture of environmental responsibility, indicators related to resource consumption and emissions speak for themselves. Thanks also to a photovoltaic plant that is the second largest in the city of Milan, exceeding the threshold of 1.2 MW of installed power, total energy consumption stood in 2021 at 97,520 GJ (Giga Joule), compared to 86,949 in 2020 (which, however, included the months of lockdown and limitations on campus activities) and 101,546 in 2019. Thus CO2 emissions recorded a sharp drop to 1,220 tons equivalent, from 1,271 in 2020 and from 1,597 the year before. Paper savings were also noteworthy, with a view to creating an increasingly paperless Bocconi: in 2021, over 2 million sheets were saved, compared to 1.84 in the previous year and one million in 2019, with an annual saving quantifiable in over 10 tons of paper. To confirm the results in terms of sustainability, in 2021 the LEED platinum certification was awarded to the SDA Bocconi School of Management headquarters created by SANAA studio.

Engage
From the 2021 Report it emerges that Bocconi is a global partner (287 universities in its network), with a population of alumni that exceeds 130 thousand people around the world. But it also shows a Bocconi standing alongside entrepreneurship and employment: 11,316 internship opportunities, compared to 7,048 in 2020, 154 career guidance initiatives and 874 company participations in recruitment events. In addition, B4i – Bocconi for Innovation, the University's accelerator, welcomed 31 startups for the pre-acceleration path, nine of which were on sustainability issues. Twelve startups moved on to enter the full acceleration path during the year.