Humacité©, a flagship initiative of French higher education institution Excelia, celebrates its 20th anniversary. This initiative blends community engagement and academic learning. It has enabled students across all Excelia programmes to undertake over 10,000 impactful projects since its inception in 2004, including more than 300 in India. Unique within France, this experiential initiative embodies Excelia’s core values of humanity, responsibility, and dedication.
Launched well before experiential learning became a trend, Humacité© offers students opportunities to engage in social, humanitarian, or civic projects for 6-8 weeks, building soft skills crucial for professional success. Professors Jean-François Trinquecoste and Rémi Bréhonnet conducted a study evaluating its impact using SEC (Social-Emotional Competencies) and OCB (Organisational Citizenship Behaviour) scales. They found students’ self-esteem (SEC) significantly improved, alongside their openness and altruism (OCB), particularly among women.
75% of Humacité© projects occur outside France, with students in 2023-2024 choosing from 44 countries, mainly in Africa and Asia. The remaining 25% contribute to projects within France, collaborating with local associations. Over 20 years, more than 300 Excelia students conducted projects in India, hosted by 45 different not-for-profit organizations.
Students receive dedicated support from Excelia, including a vetted database of host organizations. Sophie Pauget, Humacité© & Climacité© Coordinator, emphasized: “We check each Humacité© agreement individually and, when the host organisation is unknown to the school, we carry out detailed checks. There are strict criteria for the approval of a project, the most important of which are safety, the nature of the work carried out by the host organisation, and the quality of the supervision provided. A Humacité© project is not about tourism, so we prepare our students for what awaits them in the field.”
Surveys show high satisfaction levels: 83% of students recommend their host organizations, and 86% report personal development benefits. Host associations echo this enthusiasm. Peter Thipommajan, Volunteer Coordinator at Sae Lao Project in Laos, stated: “The professionalism, open-mindedness and versatility of these volunteers have had a lasting positive impact on our team and the children they have worked with. We are grateful for the strong partnership with Excelia and look forward to welcoming more students in the future.”
Alumni also recognize the unique value of Humacité©. Olivier Couzin, Class of 2009, now Senior Internal Auditor at The Pictet Group, said: “Undertaking a Humacité© project was a unique opportunity, a real asset for my personal development and a distinctive feature on my CV that not only attracts interest at interview but also when talking to people in my everyday life.”
Some projects also uncover extraordinary stories like the one of Ariane Carlier, who spent two months at the orphanage in Colombia where she had been adopted as an infant. She shared: “I always knew that I would return to the orphanage as a volunteer.”
HUMACITÉ©: FACTS & FIGURES
● 20 years of existence
● More than 10 000 projects undertaken, of which 75% outside France
● Projects available on 100% of Excelia’s programmes
● 4 objectives
- To train students to become socially responsible citizens who are aware of their duty to society
- To develop listening skills, empathy, mutual aid, and openness to others in an unfamiliar context, whilst understanding and respecting differences
- To learn about the realities of society and develop an understanding of how organizations work
- To live a unique experience that will be a valuable asset when entering the world of work
8 areas of involvement
- Assisting children and young people
- Providing social support and helping fight exclusion
- Assisting migrants
- Supporting people with disabilities
- Supporting dependent persons
- Providing help and guidance for vocational integration
- Supporting local development projects and sustainable tourism
- Ensuring public safety and protection