As we launch our 2018-19 academic year, I want to thank you for all you do as SSE alumni. Your involvement is integral to our strength as an institution. One way to express our gratitude is by keeping you informed about new developments at SSE.

One important development is the formulation of new, much broader learning objectives that cut across all of our programs. We create new objectives because the education landscape is changing rapidly and dramatically. Reputable universities are offering free courses on line, information is available at a click, and knowledge-intensive companies are delivering both research and educational programs. In the face of such changes, SSE is asking two fundamental questions: What role should a university play in this kind of environment? and What specifically should we, and all of our stakeholders, expect from an SSE graduate?

To answer these questions, we have developed a series of new learning objectives. These objectives take as their point of departure, that a decision maker of the future is one who approaches the world with curiosity and confidence, one who, as the Philosophy Professor Ingemar Hedenius said: "is free and alive in relation to the unknown".

Based on this description, we have adopted the acronym FREE and formulated the objectives as detailed here.

Through FREE, we strive to graduate students that are intellectually strong, ambitious, knowledgeable in business and economics, and have the determination to look beyond themselves and contribute to a better world.

After you've read about our FREE pedagogy, I hope you'll review the ways alumni can help SSE carry out its mission and find something that suits you.

Warm greetings,

Lars Strannegård
President and Professor of the Stockholm School of Economics

FACT AND SCIENCE BASED MINDSET

We are fundamentally a scientific institution, and facts are the basis for all critical and analytical thinking. An SSE graduate will make decisions based on facts and have the ability to differentiate between types of knowledge. This ability becomes particularly important in a world of alternative facts, "fake news" and filter bubbles.

REFLECTIVE AND SELF AWARE

The future will require more reflection and self-knowledge. SSE-trained individuals will be able to contemplate what role they play in the world, understand the impact they have on others, evaluate their personal preferences, and be aware of how their choices are determined.

EMPATHETIC AND CULTURALLY LITERATE

Empathy and cultural sensitivity are so far, something that artificial intelligence cannot accomplish. We are convinced that an empathetic person becomes a better leader and decision maker; thus we hope our students will be able to consider the perspective of others fully. Cultural literacy is also critical. To interact with someone from another background, expertise, or profession than one's own is a prerequisite for the future.

ENTREPRENEURIAL AND RESPONSIBLE

Students graduated from SSE will have an entrepreneurial and creative approach to the world. They will strive to create change in a responsible manner. They should not accept the status quo but seek improvement for society and the world at large.