Top business school partners with geopolitical think tank

From power relations between countries, to issues around maritime zones and trade wars, today geopolitics is an essential skill for managers to understand. This is why ‘IRIS Sup’, the school of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) and NEOMA Business School, have signed a new global partnership.

‘IRIS Sup’ is one of France’s leading think tanks specialising in geopolitical and strategic issues, and alongside NEOMA, they have now joined forces to strengthen their teaching in geopolitics and management.

Ranked among the best think tanks in the world on foreign policy and international affairs, IRIS is the only think tank in France that directly links a research centre and a school. With this partnership, IRIS Sup’ will now offer NEOMA students the opportunity to follow a course of study specialising in geopolitics that is renowned and recognised by the world of work.

“It is absolutely necessary to provide future managers with solid knowledge to better understand the current world,” says Michel-Edouard Leclerc, President of NEOMA Business School and member of the IRIS Board of Directors.

“The Covid-19 crisis, the American presidential elections, the rise of China, and the possible European awakening are all elements that prove that external events have immediate repercussions within our borders. Having an education in geopolitics is no longer a choice, it is a necessity,” says Pascal Boniface, Director of IRIS.

The partnership will provide four mixed courses around topics such as geo-economics, risk management, corporate responsibility, defence, security, and crisis management – to name a few.

“The courses are extremely complementary: at NEOMA, students acquire a good knowledge of how companies work, and at IRIS, they will acquire monitoring methods and develop their capacity for analysis and decision-making in complex international environments,” says Christine Aubrée, IRIS’s director of courses.

“More and more students are passionate about these subjects. They are aware that geopolitics is an integral part of business development”, says Delphine Manceau, Dean of NEOMA Business School.

NEOMA’s mission is to respond to this expectation and to help students develop a sharp eye for the realities of the international world.