Higher Education in Management: The Case of France

Abstract

When compared to the social sciences, the science of management is an altogether new field in France. J.B. Say taught his first courses at Cnam in what was called at that time “applied political economy” from 1805 onwards. The first major management schools in France appeared between the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, notably with the founding of ESCP in 1819, HEC in 1881 and ESSEC in 1907. These business schools were created primarily by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI), a group of public institutions fashioned by Napoleon in 1803 in order to sustain the development of both private companies and the regional economy (De Montmorillon 2011). Until the 1960s, most knowledge of business management belonged primarily to practitioners and consultants. It was only in 1955 that the first master’s degree in management was offered by a public university, followed by Pierre Tabotoni’s creation of the first institute for business management (Institut d’Administration des Entreprises, IAE).

Appendices

Annex 1: Ranking of the French Master ’s in Management Programmes (2005–2016)

School name	Programme name	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
HEC Paris	HEC MSc in Management	2	2	2	4	4	4	3	2	1	1	1	1
Essec Business School	MSc in Management	3	3	3	8	5	8	9	5	6	5	6	7
ESCP Europe	ESCP Europe Master in Management	4	7	7	2	2	3	1	3	2	4	3	2
Grenoble Ecole de Management	Master in International Business	13	20	15	13	13	9	5	7	5	7	4	8
Edhec Business School	Edhec Master in Management	15	18	16	14	12	15	14	11	9	12	7	12
Iéseg School of Management	MSc in Management	17	21	21	24
Audencia Business School	MSc in Management-Engineering	24	28	27	31	23	21	18	13	11	8	10	16
EMLyon Business School	MSc in Management	26	30	20	11	9	5	5	6	7	6	5	9
Skema Business School	Global MSc in Management	26	25	28	29	27	32	29	(17/23)a	14/29)a		(23/N/A)a
Neoma Business School	Master in Management	34	34	40	39	(25/19)b	(33/22)b	(21/23)b	(19/23)b	(26/20)b	24/13)b	(28/15)b
ESC Rennes	Master in Management	35		23	36
Toulouse Business School	Master in Management	40	36	30	26	20	20	16	18	17	24	30
ICN Business School	Master in Management	43	50	51	60	53	51	43	41	29	32
IAE Aix-en-Provence, Aix-Marseille University GSM	MSc in Management	46	55	54	54	40	40	45		41
Montpellier Business School	Master in Management	46	41	32	36	49
Télécom Business School	Master in Management	46	33	25	34	41
Essca School of Management	Essca Master in Management	49	51
Kedge Business School	Master in Management	53	45	42	38	(30/34)c	(28/30)c	(35/30)c	(32/26)c	(31/23)c	(N/A/22)c
Université Paris-Dauphine	Master of International Business	57
La Rochelle Business School	La Rochelle Master in Management	60	48	64
EM Normandie	EM Normandie Master in Management	63	69
Burgundy School of Business	Master in Management	67	76
EM Strasbourg Business School	MSc in Management	76
ESC Clermont	Master in Management	78	77			56	48	47	46	46
CEMS			4	5	7	3	2	2	1	3	2	2	3
ESC Tours-Poitiers						52	53	52	42	39	39

1. Source: Adapted from Financial Times
2. ^aIn brackets, ESC Lille and then CERAM Nice
3. ^bIn brackets, ESC Reims and then ESC Rouen
4. ^cIn brackets, Bordeaux Management School and Euromed Management School

Annex 2: Rankings in France of the 36 Leading French Business Schools (2016)

	L’Etudiant	Le Figaro	Le Point	Le Parisien	Minimum grade to be eligible to the oral exama	Percentage of eligible candidate to the oral exama
HEC	1	1	1	1	13.91	13.50
Essec	2	2	2	2	13.05	16.80
ESCP Europe	3	3	4	3	12.87	22.80
EMLYON	4	4	2	3	12.12	26.80
Edhec	4	4	5	5	11.90	31.70
Grenoble EM	6	6	6	6	11.50	41.30
Toulouse BS	9	7	7	9	10.55	46.60
Audencia	8	10	8	9	11.40	35
Skema	11	7	9	7	8.80	64.10
Kedge	11	13	11	7	9.6	62.60
Montpellier BS	13	9	9	9	8.55	73.60
Léseg	7	11	15	12	N/A	N/A
ESC Rennes School of Business	9	16	12	12	8.60	75.80
Neoma	13	12	13	14	10,7	47.70
EM Strasbourg	17	15	14	17	8.10	76.30
ICN Business School	13	14	17	14	7,6	90.80
Télécom EM	17	17	16	25	9.00	58.10
Essca	16	25	18	20	N/A	N/A
ESC Dijon-Bourgogne	19	18	21	22	7.01	83.80
Paris School of Business	20	22	19	14	N/A	N/A
EM Normandie	24	20	19	17	6	87.30
Inseec BS	22	22	25	20	5.01	85.50
ISC	24	25	28	17	6.02	81.90
EDC	21	30	23	23	N/A	N/A
ESC La Rochelle	29	22	23	28	6.99	83.10
ESC Troyes	36	21	22	23	5.30	87.40
ICD	27	27	27	31	N/A	N/A
Ipag	22	31	30	25	N/A	N/A
ISG	24	19	25	NC	5.53	83.10
Istec	27	33	29	31	N/A	N/A
Nova neia	31	27	32	33	N/A	N/A
Esce	29	33	32	27	N/A	N/A
EBS Paris	33	33	31	29	N/A	N/A
Idrac Lyon	33	31	36	29	N/A	N/A
ESC Pau	31	29	34	36	5	93.50
Esdes	33	36	35	35	N/A	N/A

1. Source: Own construction based on Le Monde and major-prepa.com
2. ^aThe grades concern students willing to enter a business school after a preparatory school. Thus, business schools that accept students after the baccaulauréat (e.g. IESEG) are not applicable