ESCP Business School

French economist and businessman Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832)

The school was established in Paris on 1 December 1819 by two former Napoleonic soldiers, Germain Legret and Amédée Brodart.[5] Germain Legret had opened two business schools in Paris in 1815 and 1818 but they closed their doors rapidly.[6] It was modeled on the first Grande École, the École Polytechnique founded by Lazare Carnot and Gaspard Monge, but was initially much more modest, mainly because it had not been supported by the state. Since the 1820s, the school had international exposure but it was not the only business school open to international students. As the French scholar Adrien Jean-Guy Passant recalls, other business schools as well as some polytechnics with trade departments welcomed foreigners from the start of the 19th century in Europe.[7][8] It gradually gained in stature and importance during the 19th century and moved to its current Parisian location on Avenue de la République in 1898.

ESCP original buildings in Paris

In 1828, the project to put the school under the authority of the French Ministry of Commerce and Industry failed. The school remained independent by the intervention of Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui who took it over. Several times during the first half of the 19th century, French politics planned on grouping ESCP with French elite engineering schools such as École Polytechnique or École Centrale Paris, but that never occurred. It is worth mentioning that, at the time, higher engineering schools in France and in Europe taught future businessmen.[9][10] From 1838, the French state began to give scholarships to ESCP's students.[11]

Finally, in 1869 the Paris Chamber of Commerce bought the school to train future business leaders to modern commercial methods. In 1892, ESCP set up selective admission processes which still take the form of competitive exams.[12]

On 5 April 1973 the concept of a multi-campus business school was founded with the consecutive inaugurations of campuses in the United Kingdom (London in 1974, move to Oxford in 1975) and in Germany (Düsseldorf in 1975, move to Berlin in 1985). In 1974 the ESCP developed courses in entrepreneurship in response to internal and external forces.[13] Since then, the school has deepened its European presence to become an integrated pan-European business school:[14] In 2018, ESCP became a public-private partnership (École consulaire or EESC) largely financed by the public Chambers of Commerce in Paris, Berlin, and Turin.[2]

• In 1985, the School's campus in Germany moves from Düsseldorf to Berlin at the invitation of the Government of Berlin.
• In 1988, a fourth campus is opened in Madrid.
• In 1999, ESCP merges with its sister school EAP.
• In 2001, the Master in Management programme of ESCP is validated by City University London.
• In 2004, a fifth campus in Torino, Italy is founded. Validated by the University of Turin, Master in Management students can obtain the Italian degree Laurea Magistrale.
• In 2005, the School inaugurates its London campus having moved from Oxford.
• In 2007, the Master in Management programme is recognized by the Charles III University of Madrid and students can obtain the Spanish degree of Master Europeo en Administración y Dirección de Empresas.
• In 2015, the School establishes its sixth European campus via a strategic alliance with the Warsaw-based Kozminski University.
• In 2016, the School decides to strengthen its footprint in Paris by adding a second campus located in the Montparnasse area after buying back Novancia Business School's building. The campus is dedicated to executive programs.
• In 2019, the School removed Europe from its name going back to its original name.[15]

ESCP Business School is a grande école, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. Grandes écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process, and a significant proportion of their graduates occupy the highest levels of French society.[16][17][18] Similar to Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and C9 League in China, graduation from a grande école is considered the prerequisite credential for any top government, administrative and corporate position in France.[19][20]

The degrees are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles[21] and awarded by the Ministry of National Education (France).[22] Higher education business degrees in France are organized into three levels thus facilitating international mobility: the Licence / Bachelor's degrees, and the Master's and Doctorat degrees. The Bachelors and the Masters are organized in semesters: 6 for the Bachelors and 4 for the Masters.[23][24] Those levels of study include various "parcours" or paths based on UE (Unités d'enseignement or Modules), each worth a defined number of European credits (ECTS). A student accumulates those credits, which are generally transferable between paths. A Bachelors is awarded once 180 ECTS have been obtained (bac + 3); a Masters is awarded once 120 additional credits have been obtained (bac +5). The highly coveted PGE (Grand Ecole Program) ends with the degree of Master's in Management (MiM)[23][24][25]

[34]

ESCP students can study in campuses in France (Paris),[35] in the UK (London), Spain (Madrid), Germany (Berlin), Italy (Turin), and Poland (Warsaw). They can spend either 6 months or 1 year on each campus according to their study choices. Each campus has its own specifics and develops programs with local academic institutions. For instance, in Spain ESCP provides a Master in Business Project Management co-delivered with the Technical University of Madrid and in Italy a double-degree program is available for engineers together with Polytechnic University of Turin.[36]

Since 2017, ESCP has two campuses in Paris. One near the Place de la République (11th arrondissement of Paris) and another one near the Montparnasse Tower (15th arrondissement of Paris). Each campus is dedicated to a specific range of programs. The campus in the 11th arrondissement hosts all the graduate programs whereas the campus in the 15th arrondissement hosts the undergraduate education, the executive education and the school's start-up Incubator, the Blue Factory. This organization is unique to Paris. In every other school undergraduate, graduate and executive education are dispensed in the same campus.

Paris - Republique	Paris - Montparnasse

Berlin	Turin	London

ESCP has over 100 partner Grandes Écoles and Universities worldwide, several offering dual degrees.[37]

• Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris
• HEC Paris
• ESSEC Business School

Wikimedia Commons has media related to École supérieure de commerce de Paris - Europe.

• Official website