New Partnership Between the Chamber of Commerce and HEC Liège
The Chamber of Commerce and HEC Liège join forces and announce the establishment of a strategic partnership in order to enrich the higher level training offer for Luxembourg companies and their employees. This partnership is materialized in particular by the creation of an international MBA from the start of the 2022 academic year and an expanded offer of university certificates from 2023.
One of the key missions of the Chamber of Commerce is to support entrepreneurs and Luxembourg companies in developing the skills of their managers and employees. The institution operates across the entire vocational training value chain, from initial vocational training to the offer of certificates and diplomas in continuing education, according to the principle of lifelong learning.
The Executive Education department of HEC Liège, the management school of the University of Liège, offers training in all areas of business management. These training courses are aimed at top managers , middle managers , entrepreneurs, self-employed or employees seeking to develop their skills or at companies wishing to develop those of employees as part of their professional activities.
The collaboration between the two institutions has existed for many years in the context of specific training programs. This new partnership has three main axes.
1. Meet current and future upskilling and reskilling needs
Beyond their specific skills and know-how, the self-employed, entrepreneurs, employees or senior executives constantly need to broaden their area of expertise, in order to be able to evolve not only in their current position, but also towards new horizons. A solid and expanded skills base will be useful to them to succeed in constantly changing environments, resulting in a double ecological and digital transition. The rigorous and scientific approach proposed by the executive education of HEC Liège makes it possible to enrich the training courses in this direction.
“Through this partnership, the Chamber of Commerce and the House of Training will be able to expand their continuing professional training offer with concrete solutions, at university level, to better support companies on the path to continuous, dynamic and sustainable. Training is one of the keystones of the future success of companies”, explains Carlo Thelen, Director General of the Chamber of Commerce.
2. Offer advanced training in higher education in the areas of business management
The partnership will also offer new training programs and university certificates that will help companies develop the skills of their employees, taking into account the real needs of the participants.
According to Wilfried Niessen, Director General & Dean HEC Liège Management School: “university researchers from a business school, such as HEC Liège, take part in many field projects. They have a transversal view of a situation or a problem that they can confront with the specific cases brought by the participants. The association of experts from the Luxembourg ecosystem proposed by the Chamber of Commerce and academics from the University of Liège is a guarantee of quality and excellence in terms of the training offered. »
Thanks to HEC Liège’s double business school quality accreditation (EQUIS and AACSB [1] ), all the training and certifications offered within the framework of the partnership are labeled. The certificates and diplomas obtained therefore have a high value on the international labor market.
3.Attracting, developing and retaining talent in Luxembourg
The shortage of skilled labor within Luxembourg companies is a major and widespread problem for the economy. One of the ambitions of the partnership between the Chamber of Commerce and HEC Liège is to offer a wide range of training and certifications to attract new talent to Luxembourg. It is indeed necessary to increase the attractiveness of Luxembourg by offering high-level training, combined with internships in companies. These will allow participants from abroad to work during their training.
By setting up this partnership, the two institutions are thus affirming their desire to deploy training programs in executive education adapted to the Luxembourg market.
“This strengthening of the continuing vocational training offer not only makes it possible to meet the needs for “upskilling” and “reskilling” at company level, but also to attract talent from abroad. These two aspects are essential to help fill the “skills gap” currently experienced by the job market in Luxembourg and which should intensify in the years to come”, says Muriel Morbé, training director of the Chamber of Commerce and CEO of the House of Training.
[1] EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), are specialized accreditation systems with international recognition in business or management schools. Thesesystems notably evaluate the excellence of programs, student supervision and research.
