A nose for business: site-specific business education through Ulysseus European University

Site-specific art stands for a work of art where the artwork is created with a specific location in mind: be it a dance performance, a theatre play or an arts installation. Similarly, the concept of Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) may be examined through the lenses of site-specific business education, where teachers and students experience mobility both in terms of exchange of ideas and change of physical environment. The Ulysseus European University provides a forum for Haaga-Helia teachers to collaborate with European colleagues in creating site-specific BIP implementations anchored in the business environment and local culture of the host university.

In this article we will explore a BIP collaboration that was initiated by Haaga-Helia in 2023- 2024, bringing together a multi-disciplinary team of teachers from Finland, France, Italy and Slovakia to collaborate on a BIP titled Developing Cultural Competences through Business Relocation (read our article Haaga-Helia Labs: Courage, Cooperation and Corporeality).

Collaborating for a second edition

The intensive week hosted by Haaga-Helia in May 2024 set the tone for future collaboration – the Finnish commissioner By Pia´s, a high-end ecological clothing and life-style brand, brought a sensory and aesthetic dimension to the BIP. This would be further explored in the second edition hosted by Université de Côte d´Azur, Nice in spring 2025.

The composition of the teacher team of the second edition of the BIP remained unchanged, and thus there was room for further pedagogical development based on the experiences from the pilot edition. While the versatile learning environment of Haaga-Helia had enabled students to explore their collaborative and performance skills through the Haaga-Helia Lab 8 tools as well as the Sales and Emotions Lab (Niemi & Linnasalmi 2019) in Helsinki, the relocation of the BIP to Southern France expanded the learning environment beyond campus walls.

The French commissioner turned out to be an exclusive family-owned cosmetics company located in Grasse, the capital of perfume production in Provence. In accordance with the idea of site-specific pedagogy, where the physical site becomes a primary resource for learning, the international group of students and staff were taken out of the classroom on a field trip to Grasse.

Hence, we are now ready to introduce the olfactory sense into business education.

The olfactory sense in learning

Traditionally, western education has been confined into the classroom, as described by Foucault (1975) in reference to the 17th-18th century educational reformer Jean-Baptiste de la Salle who created the controlling classroom design that is still predominant in education today. With our site-specific approach to course design, we strive to expand the classroom beyond the campus walls.

In the case of a Ulysseus BIP, there is little point in travelling to another country to spend all week inside a classroom. To be in touch with the world, one needs to be, in architect Juhani Pallasmaa´s words, in the flesh of the lived world (2005). Against the BIP in France, metaphorically speaking, to have a nose for business, a business student should first become aware of having a nose.

The olfactory sense, together with taste and touch, have been supressed by social codes and are today regarded archaic sensory remnants with a merely private function (Pallasmaa 2005), thus considered less important. However, the olfactory sense, that of smelling, is not only important for identifying scents but also has a significant role in taste, memory, emotion and in the overall behaviours, furthermore in social interaction and cultural identity. According to research, the smell is an active process that starts in the brain which is influenced by the brain’s expectations and previous experiences (Olofsson 2025).

Could the olfactory sense make sense when doing business? When the BIP was transferred to Provence, the French organising team contracted a Grasse-based company, La Canopée, as commissioner. In accordance with a heightened understanding for sustainability and environmental values, the family-owned La Canopée uses solely natural ingredients in the development of their cosmetic products. Naturally, the smell plays an essential role in such products. Therefore, for a better understanding of the commission, there is a need to experience the company on site in its real-life operational environment. This, in turn, justifies the need for travel: smell cannot be experienced online.

Developing business competencies on site

A BIP is a combination of online and on-site learning activities jointly planned by an international team of teachers. In the case presented in this article, the pedagogical team includes university teachers with a background in linguistics, business, technology and the arts. This multi-disciplinary combination of expertise ensures a holistic and embodied perspective on pedagogical development. Next, we will highlight some activities from the second edition of the BIP.

We started with an online kick-off lesson in April 2025, bringing together students and staff for a brief introduction on cultural competencies. Notably, the online environment worked for setting the stage: however, the genuine learning community and sense of agency was formed when students from France, Spain, Slovakia, Austria and Finland met in Nice in May. Additionally, it should be noted that many students originated from cultures outside Europe, thus creating a multi-voiced and global mix of different temperaments and perspectives.

The opening session of the BIP in Nice set the context for exploring and gaining a better understanding of culture and embodied senses. As introductory learning activity, the students were invited to organise a cultural fair with the senses in focus: each country bringing spices, candles, herbs and fragrance for the purpose of introducing their country as an olfactory experience. The culture fair served both as an icebreaker and preparation for meeting the commissioner. Students were organized in multi-cultural teams and presented with the challenge of finding ways for La Canopée to enter markets outside France. The results of the research would be presented to the company at the end of the intensive week in Provence.

Finally, the vibrant atmosphere of Université de Côte d´Azur Campus, together with the full-day field trip to Grasse and La Canopée company premises located in their 18th-century family estate, served as inspiration and fuel for thought during the intensive week. Significantly, the historical location enhanced the learning experience turning the olfactory sense from archaic and private into something embodied and highly relevant for doing business. As stated in student feedback: My eyes and nose are not enough for France.

In sum, many students highlighted the visit of La Canopée as the most memorable and inspiring part of the BIP, praising the simplicity and sensitivity towards nature, animals and humans and the attention to carefully creating trustworthy products. Finally, at the end of the intensive week, students had formed friendships and networks beyond cultural and geographical borders.

Moving towards a silent meeting

In retrospect, the two editions of the BIP demonstrate the benefits of continuous collaboration within Ulysseus. It takes time for an international teacher team to become synchronised, especially in cases where collegial collaboration starts with online meetings. When finally meeting in the physical classroom, there will be room for pedagogical dialogue.

Essentially, the teacher team also needs to leave space for ‘pedagogical surprises’ that lead to innovative and creative solutions. To exemplify, the focus on senses evolved as an organic side-product from the first BIP encounter in Finland in May 2024, when our international guests were experiencing the explosion of Nordic spring at its most intensive stage.

After having explored the touch of an exclusive Finnish clothing brand as well as the smell of a French natural cosmetics brand, our international Ulysseus teacher team is now ready to move on to the third edition of the BIP in May 2026, combining the two archaic senses, touch and smell, in business development. Based on pedagogical discussions and experiences in Finland and France, we perceived the need for an even more embodied and site-specific pedagogy. In other words, the pedagogical blueprint for a BIP week should be ‘choreographed’ for different types of locations: university campus, company premises, nature spots and man-built sights.

When the third edition of the BIP will take place at Haaga-Helia UAS, we plan to take the business students to the heart of the Finnish forest, and the concept of walking meeting will be complemented by the essence of Finland – a silent meeting.

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