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Introduction
In a global economy, business educators in the higher education sector and companies are increasingly being asked to develop closer partnerships to address workforce development needs. Within the French higher educational landscape, business apprenticeship is a work-based learning where French business students alternate between academic learning in a business school and workplace learning in a company in order to acquire expertise and experience in a specific business discipline. The main reason why business students choose to be a business apprentice is the drive to develop managerial skills and competencies within a particular corporate context. This management education model is in line with Gosling and Mintzberg's (2004, 2006) tenets for the education of practicing managers in that they state that management education should be restricted to practicing managers, it should be concurrent and integrated, leverage work and life experience, it should involve learning as thoughtful reflection, lead to organisational development, be an interactive process and each aspect of the education must facilitate learning.
This paper is divided into three main parts. First, French business apprenticeship from a political, institutional and student perspective is described. Second, Osterwalder and Pigneur's (2010) Business Model Canvas is used to analyse business apprenticeship as a viable business model to train young managers. Finally, the various advantages and concerns about this model are outlined prior to concluding.
Business apprenticeship in France
In contemporary France, there is no denying that there has been a strong governmental commitment to promote training via apprenticeship for many years now. The apprenticeship model has often been heralded as the one of the most effective ways to train young people for the workplace, curb youth unemployment and prepare students for future jobs. Since 23 July 1987 (Article 117-1 of the French Work Code), when French legislation extended the concept of apprenticeship to higher education, the successive governments have used this educational model as an instrument to train students for work, and hence, reduce youth unemployment. A telling example of this commitment to curb youth unemployment is the Apprenticeship Charter (Charté de l'Apprentissage ), whereby Henri Lachmann (2007) (the then CEO of Schneider Electric a global French company in the electricity management sector) had the mission of developing apprenticeship in French companies in 2005. The ex-Prime...