The FGV-EAESP INTENT initiative

Prof. Francisco Aranha, Director of the FGV-EAESP Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, highlights the innovative INTENT initiative that prepares students to be creative, high-impact managers and drivers of change in organisations and society

Prof. Francisco Aranha, Director of the FGV-EAESP Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, highlights the innovative INTENT initiative that prepares students to be creative, high-impact managers and drivers of change in organisations and society

The FGV-EAESP INTENT initiative, from an interview with Francisco Aranha by Tom Gamble.

Intent: Moving away from the traditional learning experience

The initiative was created to offer FGV-EAESP students an educational alternative that is truly student centred: integrating knowledge, emotions, actions and content, the initiative is oriented towards collaboration and team work around real projects. For Prof. Aranha, it replies to the challenge of moving away from a more traditional, fragmented, lecture-based, faculty-centred education.

The objective of the INTENT programme is clear and with a purpose – to prepare creative leaders with a well-developed sense of direction, interpersonal skills and the capacity to generate impact and change in organizations and society. Developed by the FGV-EAESP Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning as a result of a two-year period of research and prototyping, it was inspired and supported by the Danish Kaospilot School of Business Design, Leadership and Entrepreneurship. The programme takes in 25 students per semester and is now in its third cohort, known as Team 3.

In its architecture, INTENT is a one-semester, full-time course for students going on to the third year of the School’s four-year Bachelor in Business Administration programme, with students meeting from 9am to 4pm, four days a week over three cycles of five weeks. In terms of instructional design, the first cycle is formative and comprises 20 experiential workshops, with the second cycle being a process consulting assignment with real clients. The third and final cycle is dedicated to student personal projects.

A transformational experience

Prof. Francisco Aranha, Director of the FGV-EAESP Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, highlights the innovative INTENT initiative that prepares students to be creative, high-impact managers and drivers of change in organisations and society

Both the Team Leaders (faculty) and Team Members (students) who participate in the programme have reported going through a deep personal transformation, states Aranha. And it effectively impacts them in a number of ways: building their ability to establish perceptive, respectful and productive relationships; collaborating with others; participating in or leading teams; mobilizing knowledge; identifying gaps and organizing their educational continued development; and finally, causing impact in groups, organizations and society. Participants in the initiative also describe a resignification of their academic life, feeling empowered and in control, for the students are confronted with the challenge of examining their personal objectives and designing a way to move towards them. For Prof. Francisco Aranha, the INTENT initiative fulfils one of his hopes and ambitions for business education in the wider sense: that students become protagonists – whether as business leaders, advocates for a cause, or visionaries for movement and positive change.

Prof. Francisco Aranha, Director of the FGV-EAESP Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, highlights the innovative INTENT initiative that prepares students to be creative, high-impact managers and drivers of change in organisations and society
Francisco Aranha

Learn more about the Council on Business & Society

The Council on Business & Society (The CoBS), visionary in its conception and purpose, was created in 2011, and is dedicated to promoting responsible leadership and tackling issues at the crossroads of business and society including sustainability, diversity, ethical leadership and the place responsible business has to play in contributing to the common good.  

Member schools are all “Triple Crown” accredited AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA and leaders in their respective countries.

The Council on Business & Society member schools:
- Asia-Pacific: Keio Business School, Japan; School of Management Fudan University; China; ESSEC Business School Asia-Pacific, Singapore.
- Europe: ESSEC Business School, France; IE Business School, Spain; Trinity Business School, Ireland; Warwick Business School, United Kingdom.
- Africa: Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa; ESSEC Africa, Morocco. 
- South America: FGV-EAESP, Brazil.

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