HEC Paris or école des Hautes Etudes Commerciales de Paris is regarded as one of the most prestigious and selective business schools in the world. It ranked 1st among European business schools from 2006 to 2013 in the Financial Times ranking, and ranked 2nd in Europe from 2014 to 2016. HEC Paris is currently ranked 12th global for Business and Management Studies by the QS World University Rankings 2017 . It is also the most selective French grandes écoles, and traditionally seen as the most reputable business school in France.
HEC has notable alumni in business and politics . In 2011, 12 of the 40 largest French publicly traded companies have an alumnus of HEC Paris as CEO (or equivalent) . With regard to the number of alumni holding CEO positions in Fortune Global 500 companies as of 2017, HEC ranks as the 3rd highest education institution in the world (behind Harvard and Stanford), 1st outside of the United States .
The admission to HEC Paris is extremely competitive with an acceptance rate around 8% . HEC offers its flagship Master in Management â€" Grande école program, MBA and EMBA programs, eleven specialized MSc programs, a PhD program, and executive education offerings. Its pre-experience Masters in Finance programme has consistently ranked 1st worldwide by the Financial Times since the rankings began in 2011 . HEC Paris is the founding member of CEMS - Global Alliance in Management Education and holds the triple accreditation (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS) .
Overview
HEC Paris was created in 1881 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry on the model of French grandes écoles and has progressively become one of the most selective graduate schools in Europe. On average, it has been ranked as the best business school in Europe by the Financial Times since the ranking's inception.
The school grants a Grande Ecole degree (MSc in Management), pre-experience master's degrees, an MBA, two EMBA and offers a PhD program. It has several double degree agreements (Public Policy, Management, and Technology, International Business, Sustainable Development, Environmental Development, Management Studies, Business Administration, Law and Diplomacy) with foreign business schools and universities as well as other French institutions.
As is also the case for other top French grandes écoles, HEC's reputation relies on its highly competitive entrance exam, a concours jointly organized with other French business schools. Among the 9,500 students sitting the concours after 2 years of preparatory classes, HEC has an admission rate of 8% and a yield of 99.7%.
History
In 1819, ESCP Europe became the first business school created in the world. Yet, many of the most prestigious French Grandes Écoles already existed. For example, the Arts et Métiers ParisTech, the École Polytechnique, the ENSTA and the École Normale Supérieure were created before or during the French Revolution.
Most business schools were created decades later, at the end of the 19th century, and were less attractive than universities. Established in 1881 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce (CCIP), the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) wanted to be in the fields of management and trade what Centrale Paris was in the field of engineering. In order to gain recognition from the academic world, the school offered lessons similar to what was taught in secondary education and few classes in management.
In 1921, the school introduced the case-based method of the Harvard Business School, but most of lectures remained theoretical. In 1938, HEC program was lengthened to 3 years.
Due to French corporations demand for North American style management education, at the end of the 1950s the case-based method was generalized and a one-year classe preparatoire was created to prepare the entrance examination which had become difficult. An evidence of the recognition of the diploma is that only 9% of HEC students also attended university in 1959, whereas 47% had done so in 1929.
In 1964, French President Charles de Gaulle inaugurated a new 250-acre (1.0 km2) wooded campus in Jouy-en-Josas. In 1967, HEC launched its executive education programs. At that time, the CCIP wanted HEC to become an MBA school like Harvard. Since the alumni opposed this project, the CCIP established a new school in 1969, the Institut Supérieur des Affaires (ISA). Yet HEC and ISA joined forces in the "Centre d'enseignement supérieur des affaires" the following year. This group changed its named to "Groupe HEC" in 1989.
Women have been accepted at HEC only since 1973. Only 27 girls were accepted that year and "HEC jeunes filles" (HECJF), another school dedicated to women, disappeared. Its alumni are officially considered as graduated from HEC. HECJF alumni include, for example, Édith Cresson, the first and to date the only woman to have held the office of Prime Minister of France.
During the 1970s, HEC began to become global. It signed a partnership with the New York University and the London School of Economics in 1973, and has recruited foreign students since 1975. In 1988, HEC founded the CEMS network with ESADE, the Bocconi University and the Cologne University.
In 2015, the school will adopt a new legal status to allow private investors to join the Board.
Rankings
HEC was consistenly ranked as the top business school in Europe in the 11-year period between 2006 and 2016 in the Financial Times ranking. Additionally, HEC is ranked 3rd worldwide (behind only Harvard and Stanford) for the number of alumni holding a CEO position in Fortune 500 Global companies.
In 2011, The New York Times ranked HEC Paris among the ten best universities in the World according to a survey of chief executives and chairmen of leading companies, and the first outside the Anglo-Saxon world.
In 2013, Challenges Magazine ranked HEC Paris as the best business school in France.
Grande Ecole â€" MSc in Management
The Financial Times publishes a ranking of Masters in Management, and constantly ranks the Grande Ecole degree among the top 3 programs worldwide (2nd in 2016). The CEMS MiM, a European programme offered to the students of the Grande Ecole is also ranked in the top 3.
Master in Finance
The Master in Finance (pre-experience) is consistently ranked 1st in the world by the Financial Times.
Master in Business Administration (MBA)
The Master in Business Administration is generally ranked among the top 20 programs worldwide (5th in 2015 according to The Economist). The HEC Paris MBA curriculum was redesigned in partnership with Bain & Company in 2012. The curriculum is divided into two phases; the Fundamental Phase and the Customized Phase with the former focusing on developing knowledge in the business discipline while the later allowing students to customize the program according to their professional objectives. CEO Series (Speaker series), 3-day MBA Tournament and off-campus leadership seminar at the St-Cyr Military Academy are designed to develop leadership skills in MBA Students.
Executive MBA
HEC offers a joint EMBA with the London School of Economics and the NYU Stern School of Business which is constantly ranked among the top 3 programs worldwide by the Financial Times.
Executive Education
HEC Paris was ranked #2 in the world in the Executive Education 2015 ranking of the Financial Times.
Notable HEC Paris people
Notable HEC Paris faculty and staff
- Alberto Alemanno, Jean Monnet Professor of EU Law and New York University School of Law Global professor
- Laurent E. Calvet, financial economist
- Itzhak Gilboa, economist
Notable HEC Paris alumni
HEC Paris has many famous graduates:
Politics :
- Pascal Lamy (class of 1969), Director General of the World Trade Organization
- Dominique Strauss-Kahn (class of 1971), Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund
- Bertrand Badré (class of 1989), Chief Financial Officer of the World Bank
- Francisco Madero, President of Mexico
- Paul Reynaud (class of 1898), Prime Minister of France
- Son Sann (class of 1933), Prime Minister of Cambodia
- Édith Cresson (class of 1957), Prime Minister of France
- Kabiné Komara, Prime Minister of Guinea
- François Hollande (class of 1975), President of France
- Abdoul Mbaye (class of 1976), Prime Minister of Senegal
- Bozidar Djelic (class of 1987), Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia
- Maurice Herzog (class of 1944), French Secretary of State of Youth and Sports
- Hervé de Charette (class of 1960), French Minister of Foreign Affairs
- François d'Aubert (class of 1966), French Minister of Research
- Jean-Louis Borloo (class of 1976), French Minister of Ecology
- Serge Lepeltier (class of 1976), French Minister of Ecology
- Éric Woerth (class of 1981), French Minister of Budget
- Valérie Pécresse (class of 1988), French Minister of Higher Education
- Rachida Dati, French Minister of Justice
Business :
- Georges Schwob d'Héricourt (class of 1882), President of the SFCO
- Pierre Bellon (class of 1954), Chairman of Sodexo
- Louis Gallois (class of 1966), CEO of EADS
- Henri Proglio (class of 1971), CEO of Électricité de France
- Alain Taravella (class of 1971), CEO of Altarea Cogedim
- Baudouin Prot (class of 1972), CEO of BNP Paribas
- Michel de Rosen (class of 1974), CEO of Eutelsat
- Christophe Cuvillier (class of 1976), CEO of Unibail Rodamco
- Henri de Castries (class of 1976), CEO of AXA
- Denis Kessler (class of 1976), CEO of Scor
- Jean-Dominique Sénard (class of 1976), CEO of Michelin
- Jean-Paul Agon (class of 1978), CEO of L'Oréal
- Rémy Pflimlin (class of 1978), CEO of France Télévisions from 2010 to 2015
- Pierre Danon (class of 1980), Chairman of Volia
- Mercedes Erra (class of 1981), CEO of Havas Worldwide
- Hubert Joly (class of 1981), CEO of Best Buy
- Stéphane Richard (class of 1981), CEO of Orange
- Gilles Schnepp (class of 1981), CEO of Legrand
- Alain Weill (class of 1984), CEO of NextRadioTV
- François-Henri Pinault (class of 1985), CEO of Kering
- Jean Riachi (class of 1985), founder and CEO of FFA Private Bank
- Jean-Pierre Aguilar (class of 1986), CEO of Capital Fund Management
- Emmanuel Faber (class of 1986), CEO of Danone
- Frédéric Lemoine (class of 1986), CEO of Wendel
- François Pérol (class of 1986), CEO of BPCE
- Pascal Soriot (class of 1986), CEO of AstraZeneca
- Dan Serfaty (class of 1987), CEO of Viadeo
- Eric Janvier (class of 1989), CEO of Schlumberger Business Consulting
- Fréderic Jousset (class of 1992), CEO of Webhelp
- Loïc Le Meur (class of 1996), serial entrepreneur
- Greg Skibiski (class of 2006), CEO of Sense Networks
Academics :
- Michel Crozier (class of 1943), sociologist
- Pierre Rosanvallon (class of 1969), historian
- Jean-Louis Scaringella (class of 1970), Dean of ESCP Europe
- Michèle Pujol (class of 1973), economist
- Bernard Ramanantsoa (class of 1976), Dean of HEC Paris
- Loïc Wacquant (class of 1981), sociologist
- Éric Pichet (class of 1985), economist
- Frédéric Lordon (class of 1987), economist
- Bertrand Moingeon (class of 1991), professor at HEC Paris and Harvard Business School
- Enrique Cabrero Mendoza (class of 2001), professor at CIDE Mexico and general director CONACYT
Media :
- Philippe Ragueneau (class of 1939), journalist
- Odette Kahn (class of 1946), editor
- Érik Izraelewicz (class of 1976), director of Le Monde
- Claire Chazal (class of 1978), journalist on TF1
- Florence Noiville (class of 1984), journalist
Student life
Campus
HEC is located on an 110-hectare woodland campus in Jouy-en-Josas, 16Â km. (10 miles) southwest of central Paris, close to Versailles. Jouy-en-Josas is served by the RER Parisian suburban train. The campus is built around a 19th-century Chateau, which is currently used for Executive Education classes.
Lodging is provided in one of ten dormitories (Bâtiments) providing basic but furnished rooms. Everyone eats together at the University Restaurant, which serves two meals a day in a soup kitchen setting. Grande école and Specialized Master students have classes in the Bâtiment des études (Batzet), while MBA students study in a specially designated building. There are two on-campus bars: Zinc, which is located on the second floor of the Cafeteria (or Kfet), and the Piano Bar, which is adjacent to the MBA residence hall. The campus also boasts several sports fields and two lakes.
Clubs
There are around 130 clubs or "associations" on campus.
The HEC Student Council (Bureau des Élèves in French or BDE) is in charge of the social entertainment on campus. It is also in charge of coordinating all club activities and representing the students in front of the campus administration. The BDE organizes weekly events such as POWs (Parties Of the Week), lunches and dinners, speakers, and sport events. HEC parties which usually are organised every Thursday are some of the most recognized ones among all French schools and universities. The BDE is composed of a 40-student team that is elected each year in April and for which the competition among students creates the well-known Student Office Campaign.
The HEC MBA Council is in charge of all social activities related to the MBA student body. It manages the MBA's Piano Bar in Expansiel Building (Building A), coordinates and sometimes funds all MBA club activities (speaker events, sports events, dinners etc.), works to expand the HEC MBA brand, develops campus and alumni relations, sets up the new MBAs' integration week, and generally relays student concerns and needs to the administration. Elections for MBA Council are bi-annual so as to accommodate both January and September MBA intakes.
Alumni association
The school alumni association, Association des diplômés HEC Paris was founded in 1883 and gathers alumni of the different institutions of HEC Group: École HEC Paris, MBA HEC Paris, HEC Paris Executive MBA, Mastères HEC Paris and Doctorat HEC Paris. Each degree is associated with a letter and the year of graduation.
See also
- List of HEC Paris people
- Education in France
- Grandes écoles
Notes and references
External links
- HEC Paris website
- HEC Executive Education website
- HEC Full-time MBA Program
- HEC Alumni Association
- HEC Paris Annual Report 2011
