Last Friday I attended the MBA alumni refresher event at EDHEC, one of the five elite 'grande ecole' business schools in France (PS there's a 2015 ranking at http://board.find-mba.com/europe/2015-french-business-school-ranking-from-le-parisien-41631).

As an alum of the school I am able to recommend applicants for a guaranteed partial scholarship. If you'd like that, send me a private message explaining how far you meet their profile: http://www.edhec-mba.com/community/global-mba-participants/edhec-global-mba-participants-33766.kjsp?RH=Evaluateprofile

EDHEC runs a one year MBA in English with two start dates: September or January. Both groups are taught on the Nice campus and have a summer internship or project. Remarkably, 4 in 5 of the 2011 students found work in Europe (See the edhec global mba placement report 2012, available as a pdf), even though a minority of the students is European. They base this success on their CareerSMART programme (http://www.edhec-mba.com/career-services/careersmart-program/edhec-careersmart-program-125504.kjsp?RH=theseus05). The programme now has a dedicated careers manager for the MBA programme.

There are three career tracks, each of which involves an international session:
- Finance in at the EDHEC campus in London
- Global leadership at the EDHEC campus in Singapore
- Entrepreneurship, involving a tour of San Francisco and Silicon Valley (http://www.edhec-mba.com/news/mba-news/apple-microsoft-berkeley-sap-oracle-criteo-and-dailymotion-on-agenda-for-mba-entrepreneurs-in-silicon-valley-184617.kjsp?RH=CareerSmart&xtcr=3&xtmc=francisco)
- A new family business track at the EDHEC campus in Paris (http://www.edhec-mba.com/news/mba-news/new-family-business-track-launch-in-2013--155732.kjsp?RH=THESEUSMBA)

EDHEC is continuing to grow, and the MBA grows with it. Over the last few years the cohort has doubled in size to 75 people. The average GMAT score has risen from 565 to 620. It is now ranked 52nd worldwide, up from 76th, by The Economist.

I think it's certain to replace EMLyon as the number 4 French school (PS Accomplished in 2014). EDHEC is opening a third building on its expanding Nice campus, which will include a dedicated floor for the MBA programme's amphitheatres, work rooms and offices.

Some of the distinctive features are:
- Peer review of classmates' team-working skills
- Some unique courses, including philosophy and criminal risk management
- Support for learning French.

The EDHEC MBA looks like a good choice for someone considering a career in financial services, pharmaceuticals or manufacturing. If you're focussed on strategy consulting or top investment banks, then look at their specialist masters programmes at their campus in Lille, Nice, London and Singapore http://msc.edhec.edu/welcome/master-programmes-156181.kjsp?RH=SITEMSC

PS The MBA is online at http://www.edhec-mba.com

[Edited by Duncan on May 19, 2019]

Hi Duncan,
thanks! It seems that their automatic scholarships based on GMAT are helping. Any insights on their executive mba? Far behind Hec and Essec?

I didn't take notes during the presentation by the EMBA director. He, like the other EDHEC people, seemed very solid. There was none of the marketing puffery that I picked up at the EMLyon event last year. But I think that HEC and ESSEC are well ahead.

Thanks for the summary, Duncan. It seems to be an up-and-coming program, and maybe with the increased GMAT averages and improved placements, it might start showing up on the FT rankings

How do you think the MBA program will compare to the combined Rouen/Reims full-time MBA, set to launch in 2014?

Well, the EDHEC MBA has been running, under the Theseus brand, since the 1990s. It takes a long time. Reims already has an okay MBA, and I am amazed that Rouen is still; running theirs. Reims has been able to get some good outcomes, but the fact that their school [has not] published detailed placement is a big hint that international students will not do so well.

PS Added the words [has not]!

[Edited by Duncan on May 19, 2019]

I'm curious, who was doing the presentation?

Several presenters during the day: http://www.edhec-executive.com/about-us/our-events/2013-mba-emba-refresher-presenters-182066.kjsp?RH=1358419150304 There's a report at http://www.edhec-mba.com/news/mba-news/annual-edhec-global-mba-refresher-course-edhec-for-life--187247.kjsp

The Economist now ranks EDHEC above EMLyon: http://www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba-ranking?term_node_tid_depth=77637

Dear Duncan,

Could you please advise how good is EDHEC for IT management career in France?

I am 29 years old male from Russia with 7 years work experience in SAP and ticketing (recently) sales and project management. I speak intermediate French apart from English (TOEFL 99)

My main goal is to start my MBA this winter.

Do you think EDHEC is a good option for me?

I was also thinking about Germany, but you've almost persuaded me with your post that it's better for me to go to France. I am just worried that German job market is much better now comparing to French.

Please advise.

Kind regards,
Vladimir

I think you can answer that yourself: How to use LinkedIn to find the best school www.find-mba.com/board/33571

Dear Duncan,

Could you please advise how good is EDHEC for IT management career in France?

I am 29 years old male from Russia with 7 years work experience in SAP and ticketing (recently) sales and project management. I speak intermediate French apart from English (TOEFL 99)

My main goal is to start my MBA this winter.

Do you think EDHEC is a good option for me?

I was also thinking about Germany, but you've almost persuaded me with your post that it's better for me to go to France. I am just worried that German job market is much better now comparing to French.

Please advise.

Kind regards,
Vladimir

But what about for people who already have EU residency? I'm also looking at Grenbole, Neoma, and ENPC, is EDHEC better than these?

Do by ENPC you mean "Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées"? If so it is great for quant degrees. But it's hard to compare it to a Business School. Now GEM's and NEOMA's MBAs might be better ranked than EDHEC's MBA, but overall EDHEC is the "better school" by French standards.

Neoma's MBA has only just started, so it cannot be more highly ranked. EDHEC is certainly a stronger school, and Grenoble's franchise model is not without potential risks.

Duncan: thanks, points taken.

AdRam: why is it hard to compare ENPC to a business school? Like the others, it offers an MBA program, covering more than just quant... I was interested in this program because it offers a study trip to Silicon Valley.

Because it's an engineering school, and is prestigious in France in that domain, and not for business.

Duncan: thanks, points taken.

AdRam: why is it hard to compare ENPC to a business school? Like the others, it offers an MBA program, covering more than just quant... I was interested in this program because it offers a study trip to Silicon Valley.

By the way, since my post above the number of students finding work in Europe has declined from 80%, in the 2012 placement report) to 50%. That seems to be because of growing numbers of students finding work in Asia (EDHEC now has a campus in Singapore, and one of the three tracks goes to EDHEC's campus in Singapore) and also to Latin America. In the placement report for 2013, it seems that 57% work in their home country and 43% change country.

PS. 2018's placement report has 53% of students getting jobs in the EU/EEA and 52% work outside their own country. https://mba.edhec.edu/sites/global_MBA/files/pdf/placement_report_mba_2018-final.pdf

[Edited by Duncan on May 19, 2019]

I think that link is broken. This one should work though:

http://www.edhec-mba.com/medias/fichier/edhec-global-mba-placement-report-2013_1426845241839-pdf