April at ESEI Business School: A Month of Events, Industry Visits and International Connections
April was one of the busiest and most exciting months at ESEI. This month, we welcomed Italian high school students, hosted the APUNE Barcelona Regional Meeting, brought back the Spring Career Fair, staged TEDxESEISchoolBarcelona, and opened our doors to four groups of international educational tour students from France. Meanwhile, Master in Marketing and Communication students were out in the city exploring the AI tools reshaping global business at the SAP Digital Hub.
Here is a look at everything that happened.
Welcome to ESEI: IIS Luigi Luzzatti Students from Italy
April began with a warm welcome to a group of students from IIS Luigi Luzzatti, a technical and professional institute based in Mestre, Venice, visiting Barcelona as part of a cultural tour. The group arrived at ESEI alongside their teacher Marina Pomiato, bringing with them a strong interest in business and marketing.
During the visit, students had the opportunity to learn about ESEI’s academic philosophy, explore the campus and ask questions about what it means to study business in an international environment. They were also joined by Alex Macolino, a current Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship student at ESEI, who shared his personal experience of studying and living in Barcelona and offered a student’s perspective on academic life and cultural integration in the city.
Learning Walk: SAP Digital Hub Barcelona
Students on the Master in Marketing and Communication Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence course, led by Professor Alex de Frederickz, visited the SAP Digital Hub in Barcelona for an exclusive look at SAP’s primary AI tools and their real-world applications.
The visit included a presentation on SAP’s AI tools, a Q&A session and a tour of the building, coordinated with Cristal Trujillo, Management Support Specialist at SAP. Students were also joined by Jonathan Soret, Global Director of Innovation and Incubation at SAP, for an open Q&A session.
Learning Walk: Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
Students on the Master in Sports Management Events and Facilities Management course, led by Professor Julia Roca Valverde, attended the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell for a learning walk at one of the most prestigious clay court tournaments in the world.
The visit gave students a first-hand look at the operational complexity behind an ATP 500 event, from venue operations and broadcast coordination to crowd management and hospitality logistics. They also saw how global brands including Mango, Lexus and Moritz activate their partnerships around a major sporting event, bringing the commercial side of sports management to life in a way that no classroom session can replicate.
ESEI Hosts the APUNE Barcelona Regional Meeting
April also marked an important institutional milestone for ESEI with the hosting of the APUNE Barcelona Regional Meeting, officially launching ESEI’s membership of the Association of North American University Programs in Spain.
The two-day meeting brought together approximately 60 professionals from Spanish and American universities, accommodation providers and experts in security, psychology and legal affairs. The first day focused on student accommodation in Barcelona, covering the current landscape, legal frameworks and institutional best practices. The second day addressed broader academic and student welfare topics, including a presentation by Jordi Estera on ESEI’s approach to delivering safe and career-focused study abroad experiences, and a specialised workshop on Sexual Assault Response Protocols with contributions from the Mossos d’Esquadra and the Office for Victim Support.
The meeting was opened by Kim Griffin, Executive Director of APUNE, and Simisola Okoya, Head of Admissions at ESEI Barcelona.
ESEI Spring Career Fair
April also brought the return of the ESEI Spring Career Fair, one of two annual career fairs ESEI hosts each year alongside the autumn edition. The fair brought together students and employers for a dedicated session of networking, recruitment conversations and professional development, giving students the opportunity to connect directly with companies and explore career and internship opportunities across a range of industries.
TEDxESEISchoolBarcelona: How to Humanize the Future in Collaboration with AI
The highlight of the month was undoubtedly TEDxESEISchoolBarcelona, an officially licensed TEDx event held on the ESEI campus in the evening. Hosted by ESEI alumni Juan Victor Menendez, the event brought together seven speakers for an evening of ideas centred on the theme “How to Humanize the Future in Collaboration with AI.”
Kate Busby, Fractional CMO and AI Marketing Professor at ESEI, challenged the audience not to outsource their thinking to AI. Arie Elbelman R., founder of LEON Marketing and ESEI professor, explored what it means to lead with soul and give AI soul-driven inputs. Yohay Elam, founder of Touch Base, reframed human connection as infrastructure. Maja Završnik, CMO and Co-founder of SheAI, asked who is being left out of the AI conversation. Claire Farwell, founder of AI Claire, argued that clarity is a skill most of us do not train. And current Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship students Alex Macolino and Guston Reed delivered a joint talk titled “Meaning First”.
The evening also featured an immersive VR art experience during the break, created by artists Pia Behmuaras and Aida Corcoy in collaboration with the ESPRONCEDA Institute of Art and Culture.
International Educational Tours
April also saw ESEI welcome three groups of international students for week-long educational tours, bringing a new energy to the campus and a reminder of the school’s growing reputation as a destination for international academic programmes.
The month opened with a group of 50 students from Groupe Alternance Rouen and Groupe Alternance Amiens, organised through Infinity Travel Agency, studying towards Bachelor’s degrees in Business Development and Master’s programmes in Business Management and Marketing. The group spent two days in Barcelona with their Digital Marketing workshop day taking place at ESEI, where students were divided into two cohorts of 25 and rotated through four workshops covering topics from generative engine optimisation and AI-driven marketing to brand storytelling and executive branding. The day concluded with a Certificate of Completion ceremony.
Campus du Lac brought ten students to Barcelona for an intensive programme focused on AI, leadership and Barcelona’s tech scene. The group completed workshops on Search Everywhere strategy and LLM Optimisation with Kate Busby, and on Emotional Intelligence in the AI era with Bela Weksler, and visited both Pier01 at Tech Barcelona and the Semrush offices.
Three Voyage-langue groups, organised through France Compétences, brought a combined total of more than 75 students from seven French postgraduate programmes. The groups followed tailored workshop programmes built around the themes of management, communication strategy, and digital innovation and sustainable hospitality. Workshop facilitators included Antoine Delmas, Daria Vaguina, Kate Busby, Arie Elbelman R., Cem Gorer, Carlos Montanya Atoche, Josep Maria Capella and Ariel Castillo. All groups also took part in ESEI’s Cultural Tour “Like a Local: Live the True Barcelona,” led by ESEI alumni Anton Goldshmidt, and they concluded the week with a visit to the Estrella Damm factory.
A Month That Reflects What ESEI Is
April at ESEI was a reminder of what makes this school distinctive. In a single month, the campus hosted a licensed TEDx event, welcomed international visitors from Italy and France, launched its Spring Career Fair, marked a significant institutional milestone with APUNE, and sent its own students out into the city to learn from some of the world’s most significant technology companies.
This is what studying at ESEI in Barcelona actually looks like.
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