Two second year Master’s in Management (MiM) candidates have been recognised as exceptional student leaders at the 2016 Graduate Business Forum (GBF), which took place at St. Gallen University in Switzerland on 5-8 April 2016.
Vaibhav Agarwal and Jason Burchard received the GBF 2016 Student Leadership Award for their commitment to building a dynamic student community on LSE's Master’s in Management programme, increasing engagement between current students, alumni and offer holders.
Leading on the ‘Student Ambassador Programme’ during the 2014-15 academic year, Jason and Vaibhav cultivated a dialogue between current and prospective students to help offer holders integrate into LSE. With support from LSE staff, the student leaders and a group of MiM ambassadors responded to offer holders' requests to be matched with current student 'buddies' and provided guidance on the LSE experience, life in London and what it is like to study on the programme.
This year, the ambassador scheme has grown expediently and is now available to prospective students who are considering applying to the LSE MiM. Currently 25 first and second year MiMs are taking part in the initiative, representing 15 nationalities from around the globe.
The GBF also recognised Jason and Vaibhav’s, leadership roles in bolstering alumni participation in programme activities. Last year, the Graduate Management Society (GMS) – the official student society for LSE's Master’s in Management programme, and which Jason serves as the 2015/16 President – launched a fortnightly ‘happy hour’ for MSc Management Students, visiting CEMS and MiM exchange students, alumni, and Department of Management staff. As the GMS Alumni Relations committee member, Vaibhav was instrumental in encouraging London-based alumni to attend the MiM Mixer, which provides current students with regular, informal networking opportunities during term time with their alumni community.
The GMS also hosts events with top speakers and organisations, which have included overnight educational trips to the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
Jason and Vaibhav joined over 100 elected student leaders and alumni drawn from the top 50 global business schools and MBA programmes to collect the award, which was presented by Jim Deveau, GBF Founder, Wieteke Dupain, GBF CEO, and Professor Kuno Schedler, Vice President Research and Faculty at the University of St. Gallen.
GBF CEO Wieteke Dupain said: “The GBF vision and mission is to inspire student leaders, during their time in office, to envision and drive initiatives that lead to transformational change for their programme, community or society at large. This years’ winners are a true inspiration for future student leaders to identify and consciously focus their efforts on one area of change where they can create substantial change and leave a lasting legacy as a student leader.”
Established in 1983, the Graduate Business Forum is a global organisation seeking to develop responsible leadership and global citizenship amongst student leaders and alumni from the world’s top 50 business schools. The Awards are open to full time graduate business students of GBF member schools participating in the annual Graduate Business Conference.