The low-profile EDHEC Business School with campuses in Lille, Nice, Paris, London and Singapore and an aggregate enrolment of 8,117 students, offers excellent infrastructure and English language curriculums at almost half the price of Americas top B-schools -Paromita Sengupta
For business management education, America with its globally-renowned blue-chip B-schools — Harvard (estb.1908), Chicago Booth (1898), MIT (1914), Stanford (1925), North-western (1908) among others — which routinely top all B-school league tables, is Mecca. Alumni of these prestigious and well-endowed schools not only land the best jobs in India Inc when (and if) they return, but also have the enviable option of bagging the best entry-level jobs in the US and most countries around the world.
However in recent years, the cost of an American business degree has gone through the roof and become unaffordable for students from India, since they also have to reckon with continuous depreciation of the rupee. Consequently, the majority of students from the subcontinent in American business schools tend to be the pampered progeny of promoter-directors of well-established business houses certain to be parachuted into the boardroom. Therefore, the offspring of business and corporate professionals intent on offshore business management qualifications and obliged to rely on family savings and high interest education loans grudgingly dispensed by Indian banks, are enrolling in hitherto low-profile European B-schools which according to all indicators, offer as good education in equally, if not more salubrious environments, at half the price. For instance, annual tuition and residence fees in the best European B-schools are in the range of $44,250 and $48,900 (Rs.30-34 lakh) per year cf. Harvard B-school’s $88,682 (Rs.60 lakh).
After the liberalisation of the Chinese and Indian economies in the 1990s, and establishment of the World Trade Organisation (1995), managements of Europe’s insular B-schools have become aware of the importance of attracting students from around the world to promote inter-cultural respect and understanding, and provide indigenous students networking opportunities necessary for business and professional success in the rapidly expanding global economy. All of them, therefore, have started offering business management study programmes of various duration in English, now the accepted lingua franca of global business and industry.
Against this backdrop of low-profile, vintage European business management institutions beginning to challenge America’s hitherto all-conquering B-schools, in late March, the Lille (France)-based EDHEC Business School (formerly the Ecole des Hautes Edutes Commerciales (estb. 1906)) invited a group of journalists from the UK (Management Today, PIE News, and Business Reporter) and India (Economic Times, Financial Express, Times of India and EducationWorld) to acquaint them with its newly articulated aims and objectives, impressive curriculums, infrastructure and student body diversity, and to showcase the school’s state-of-the-art campuses in Lille, Nice and Paris. In addition, EDHEC has two campuses in London and Singapore with an aggregate enrolment of 8,117 students mentored by 150 permanent faculty. The visiting journalists were favourably impressed and expressed surprise about this vintage B-school’s modest international profile.
However within industry, business and the cognoscenti in Europe if not worldwide, EDHEC enjoys an excellent reputation. In its 2017 league table ranking the world’s top B-schools, the London-based Financial Times ranks EDHEC #1 worldwide for its Masters in finance degree programme, #1 in France for its MBA in entrepreneurship and among the Top 15 European B-schools overall. In the 2018 Multirank Assessment of the European Union — which ranks over 1,600 higher education institutions and universities worldwide (including 60 in France) on 29 parameters including research, quality of teaching and learning, international orientation among others — EDHEC is awarded top score on the greatest number of parameters with special mention for teaching excellence and international orientation.
Among EDHEC’s high-profile alumni are Franck Moison, vice-chairman of Colgate-Palmolive (USA); Sophie Bellon, chairperson of Sodexho (France); Yasunori Iwanaga, chief investment officer of Amundi Asset Management (Japan); Satish Jha, chairman and CEO of XCube and Vahan AI (USA) and Rahul Roy, director of business development, Gutenberg LLC (Delhi).
Lille campus. A 60-minute ride from Paris on France’s superfast TGV train, Lille is popularly regarded as the cultural capital of France and hosts EDHEC’s flagship campus, sited on 8.5 hectares of verdant parkland which was blooming with cherry blossom when we visited. This history-rich city is renowned for its splendid Flemish architecture displayed in 19th century baroque buildings lining cobbled streets; the Palais des Bank Arts, second only to the Louvre, Paris in size and housing works by Monet, Raphael, Rubens, Van Gogh and Donatelli among others; the stately 17th century stock exchange building; the Grand Place town square and the picturesque town hall and belfry, several museums and markets.
For off-campus recreation, the city offers an excellent public transport system, multiple dining options (including several Indian restaurants), a host of cinemas, parks, shopping malls and boutiques in a temperate oceanic climate, with cool summers (15°-25°C) and cold winters (-5°-10°C). Students from India are advised to arrive well-equipped with woollies because well-styled and bespoke tailoring is prohibitively expensive by Indian standards.
“The campus is beautifully landscaped and provides excellent infrastructure for study and extra-curricular activities. With students from over 35 countries, apart from business education one also receives rich French and inter-cultural education and opportunity to build enduring friendships and networks,” says Snehil Ranvir Singh, an engineering alumnus of Manipal Academy of Higher Education who signed up for EDHEC’s two-year Masters programme in management last September.
While none of EDHEC’s campuses offer residential accommodation for students, the Lille campus is an exception. First year students have the first option of living in single occupancy furnished studios with shared facilities. Moreover, the students’ council arranges for private housing options. Monthly rent varies from €300-500 (Rs.23,900-39,852) for studio accommodation to €400-600 for apartments on a shared basis.
Nice campus. An hour by air and six hours by train from Paris, Nice (pop. 347,060) on the French Riviera, is
Academic facilities include 13 lecture halls, 22 lecture rooms, five computing and e-learning rooms, an incubator and trading room, a state-of-the-art gym, amphitheatre, and private study cubicles equipped with computers and wi-fi. The management arranges private accommodation off campus.
Apart from the three campuses, the EDHEC management has also established several unique initiatives. Among those visited by your correspondent:
EDHEC Entrepreneurs Incubator. Housed in the Lille campus, the EDHEC Entrepreneurs Incubator (estb. 2010) provides infrastructure, aid and advice and funding to promising research and entrepreneurial initiatives. The best and most promising projects of EDHEC graduates — ‘laureates’ — are promoted to Station F, Paris, reportedly the world’s largest start-up campus spread over 34,000 sq. m. Inside Station F, EDHEC alumni donors and philanthropists have funded 40 (out of 1,000) fully-equipped work stations for promising young entrepreneurs to incubate their start-ups.
“At the EDHEC incubator, we handhold our graduates intent on promoting technology and other start-ups. Every year, we recommend 30 of our best graduate start-up entrepreneurs to Station F to accelerate development of their projects,” says Jean-Michel Ledru, a former serial entrepreneur who heads the EDHEC incubation programme.
EDHEC Risk I
“Top firms around the world use EDHEC’s research. To deepen our commitment to financial research that benefits society, EDHEC has teamed up with the department of operations research and financial engineering of Princeton University, USA for research projects, faculty training and innovation of financial products for business and industry,” says Lionel Martellini, professor of finance, director of ERI and senior scientific advisor of ERI’s Scientific Beta, a firm founded by ERI in 2012, which has become a world leader in calculating and producing beta indices purchased by institutional and high net worth investors to assess country risk.
EDHEC’s education programmes
Lille campus. Nine undergrad and postgrad study programmes including the four-year International Bachelor’s in Business Administration, two-year Masters in Management, Business Management, Masters in marketing management, M.Sc in entrepreneurship and innovation, M.Sc in data analytics.
Nice. Six study programmes including Global MBA, Ph D in finance and part-time executive education programmes
Paris. Part-time executive education programmes
Tuition fees excluding BBA (per year): €19,200-34,200 (Rs.15.2- 27.13 lakh)
Living expenses (per year): €10,000 (Rs.8 lakh)