The mission of the Faculty of Business and Economics includes the strong international orientation of our educational and research activities. The course 'International Week on Sustainability' or I-Week was introduced in 2014 to embed international exposure into the curriculum of the Bachelor of Applied Economics: Business Economics and has since grown into a faculty-wide course, being incorporated in the curricula of our Bachelor of Economic Policy, Bachelor of Business Engineering, Bachelor of Business Engineering: Management Information Systems and Bachelor of Social-Economic Sciences.

During the I-week, students:

1. interact with professionals and academics about economic, ecological and ethical sustainability
2. listen to an interdisciplinary debate and learn how to tackle a “wicked” problem together with students from other faculties;
   
3. analyze a current sustainability issue through group work with other international students;
4. create and present a poster that summarizes the analyzed issue;
5. meet students from all around the world;
6. improve their language and intercultural skills.

The course consists of 5 intense days of presentations, discussions and workshops during which students are exposed to international academics, sustainability experts and CEOs. To get the most out of the I-week, 3 preparatory sessions are organized online in the weeks before the I-week. The I-Week takes place in a hybrid learning environment: it can be followed online, in class or both.

The first hybrid edition in 2022 made it possible to become even more international than before, with speakers and students with over 30 different nationalities from 5 different continents. The 2024 edition welcomed 402 participants from 32 different nationalities and 5 different continents. For this edition, we also had the honour of working together with 44 partner universities.

Speakers 2024

The 2024 edition included speakers such as Ekaterina Ivanova, Guido De Wilde, Ian Williamson, Jan Jonker, Orsolya Diofasi, Wouter Ghyoot, Antoine Lebrun, Kavita Hamza, Philippe Weiler, Shawn Theunissen, Gilke Eeckhoudt, Natalia Soebagjo, Christudas Karayil Victor, Martin Dinter, Lebone Nkhumeleni, Elizabeth Abba, Abhimanyu Sahoo, Peter Verhezen, Luc Van Liedekerke, and many more.

The I-week is an innovative way to embed international perspectives and a focus on sustainability into the students' curriculum.