Physical Infrastructure

Open for business in 2021/2022.

During 2021/2022, all four INSEAD locations were fully open and operational once again. Teaching returned to the classroom, campus hotels and restaurants reopened their doors and energy levels were higher than ever. Within weeks, it was difficult to believe that that these vibrant spaces had been deserted and subject to strict controls for so long.

 

New developments by campus

On the Asia Campus, it was a busy year of small-scale renovations, starting with refreshing the residences that had served as government quarantine facilities during the pandemic. Among many other projects, our outdoor spaces, including the herb, roof-terrace and butterfly gardens, were revamped, and “green walls” were added to the Leadership Development Centre and Water Lily Courtyard. The façade was repainted and the campus bar redesigned and rebranded, while the main building was newly waterproofed and fitted with LED lights. Other green initiatives included the installation of equipment to help reduce energy and water consumption, and 76 motion sensors to turn off lights when not needed.

 

Middle East Campus
Middle East Campus

Meanwhile, in Fontainebleau, the large-scale Europe Campus Renewal resumed in earnest, with the Euro-Asia Centre Building as the initial priority. The purchase of the CEDEP building was also a major step towards fulfilling our ever-expanding space requirements as on-campus activities increase, participant numbers grow and face-to-face interactions continue to multiply. The 10-year plan, devised to involve minimum disruption, will result in better accessibility for disabled staff and students, and easier navigation for everyone. Other key considerations include greater sustainability and a desire to increase biodiversity on campus.

 

On the Middle East Campus and at the San Francisco Hub, the great news was that activities spanned all facets of the school during the year: Executive Education programmes, degree programme modules, faculty research and events targeting not only alumni but also the local business community.

Advances in sustainability

In January 2022, the Asia Campus received the Green Mark Platinum Award from the Singapore Building and Construction Authority, the industry regulator. This is the highest sustainability rating and represents a major milestone for INSEAD. Nonetheless, the green crusade continues with further resource-saving and awareness-raising initiatives, including tricks such as using kitchen waste to water and fertilise plants and a campaign to throw away less food.

 

Without doubt, the biggest step towards greater sustainability for INSEAD came in February when the school announced its Carbon Reduction Pledge to cut 67% of its scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 2035, compared to 2019 levels – with the ultimate objective of reaching net-zero by 2050 across all locations. A special feature sets out the full roadmap for this journey, which was planned by Campus Services teams in collaboration with the Hoffmann Institute for Business in Society and members of faculty.

 

 

San Francisco Hub
San Francisco Hub

Digital Infrastructure

24/7, 365 days a year, everywhere in the world.

As the community returned to campuses, most teaching switched from a hybrid format back to the classroom, while internal meetings moved from the purely virtual to the hybrid space. In a postpandemic era when expectations of IT to enable new business digital capabilities are higher than ever before, the IT Department played a key role in supporting these demands.

 

New internal and external-facing capabilities

A major milestone was reached in February 2022 when Degree Programmes joined colleagues from other departments on the Salesforce “Sales Cloud”. In August 2022, Executive Education also launched a new B2C internet marketplace powered by Salesforce for Open Online programmes with integrated product-bundling features. The new systems have created more seamless operations for INSEAD and more customer-friendly services, including payments – for clients, partners and participants alike.

 

Similarly, in March, we introduced a new Oracle Eloqua automation platform for Advancement and, in August, implemented a new faculty information system, Interfolio. Both innovations have already improved the functioning of key internal processes, data management and reporting.

 

Further incremental improvements continued throughout the year, including process automation to make donations, payments and scholarship awards – as well as many internal functions – less manually intensive and more efficient.

 

We are also proud to be breaking new strategic ground with our colleagues in campus services and the Hoffmann Institute for Business and Society in “walking the talk” on sustainability. Our scheduling tool now ensures that air-conditioning and other services are activated only when classes are scheduled. We look forward to making further contributions to reducing carbon emissions and improving efficiency across the school in the coming year.

 

Felipe Monteiro

 

Supporting teaching, research and events

One of the most exciting experiences of the year was the department’s continued support for VR-enabled teaching. Over the course of 2021/2022, we managed 250 devices across our campuses with multiple sessions per week. The rapid growth in this innovation is expected to continue as many more academic areas develop VR case studies.

 

Also, in the classroom, we added functionality to our Learning Management System, including digital attendance tracking and easier recording of face-to-face sessions. In addition, we introduced new production software, including green screen, for Live Virtual teaching, which continues to develop rapidly despite the return to campus.

 

It was also fantastic to be able to support so many on-campus events, particularly reunions, as our global community reconnected again. Likewise, we were pleased to facilitate more effective hybrid research collaboration with the enhanced audio visual (AV) capabilities of PhD rooms across the Europe and Asia campuses.

 

Keeping our digital infrastructure reliable and secure

Behind the scenes, we continue automating infrastructure and system tasks and improve the monitoring of our key cloud and on-premise applications. Our investments in optimising our cloud platforms have helped us to keep downtime of critical services to a minimum.

 

We continue to enhance our cybersecurity capabilities extensively. This covers our authentication mechanisms, perimeter defences and email security. In addition, there were additional efforts to improve end-user education about cyber threats through more regular phishing-awareness campaigns. Our investments in cybersecurity will continue to grow in tandem with our growth in digital capabilities.

 

Enabling INSEAD’s long-term digital transformation vision

Looking forward to 2022/2023, our digital transformation will accelerate with the launch of several major projects. As we ramp up our digital transformation activities, the IT Department will strive to strengthen our partnership with all INSEAD departments in order to better serve the needs of our colleagues and their clients.

Download

Annual Report Description
We are pleased to provide downloadable versions of Our Year in Review 2021/2022 and annual reports from previous years. All downloads are available in the PDF file format.