Skema > Skema News > three questions for the head of the master in management
NEWS

Three questions for the head of the Master in Management

Published on 27 June 2018

Sophie Gay, director of SKEMA’s Master in Management, Grande Ecole programme, talks about her role, gives advice about doing well in the orals and the importance of daring to make choices.

What is your role as director of the Grande Ecole Programme? 

Directing the Master in Management, Grande Ecole programme means putting into practice the values, strategic objectives and vision of SKEMA Business School. It is therefore at the same time complex and very interesting. The job is based on consolidating our differentiation: mobility, innovation, digitization and humanism. 

In concrete terms, the director of the programme has to manage a wide range of activities to do with the overall programme of study: from programme design to awarding the diploma, supervising courses, student guidance and careers and helping students in their academic and associative activities on all the campuses. 

There are eight of us on the French campuses and we are in direct contact with the international campus directors so that we can ensure the nature of the programme is harmonised across all campuses. 

My role is to lead and motivate this team so that we listen to students as well as to the needs of companies and offer what is needed locally. This of course means collaborating closely with the SKEMA departments that work to improve the student experience. 


What qualities are necessary to succeed in the orals? 

In my opinion, the best thing you can do to do well in the orals is to really have thought about your educational goals and to know why you are motivated by studying management. Why go to a Grande Ecole? What impact do you want to have on your environment? Candidates who know the answers to these questions will not find it hard to be natural and to show that they are motivated. You also need to have thought about the consistency between your own values and those of the school you want to go to. 


This year, SKEMA’s Grande Ecole entrance exams' theme is “Choose your way”. What do you think of this maxim? 

For me, “Choose your way” represents the qualities SKEMA is looking for in its students: wanting to look at the world through one’s own lens and one’s own personal view, to dare to make choices about one’s education and career, choices that will enable each student to reach their own objectives and finally, it’s about the natural need to make a difference. This is what is offered by the wealth of choices possible at SKEMA. 


Why choose SKEMA?
At the top of French and international rankings SEE RANKINGS
A global business school SEE SKEMA NEWS
A wide range of programmes COMPARE