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'''HEC Paris''' or '''''Hautes études commerciales de Paris''''', located in Jouy-en-Joses, is one of the foremost [[business schools]] in France and in Europe. It 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. It has been consistently ranked as the best business school in Europe by the ''[[Financial Times]]''<ref>[http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings European Business school rankings 2009, ''Financial Times'']</ref> since the ranking's inception.
'''HEC Paris''' or '''''Hautes études commerciales de Paris''''', located in Jouy-en-Josas, is one of the foremost [[business schools]] in France and in Europe. It 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. It has been consistently ranked as the best business school in Europe by the ''[[Financial Times]]''<ref>[http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/european-business-school-rankings European Business school rankings 2009, ''Financial Times'']</ref> since the ranking's inception.


HEC is the business school of [[ParisTech]], a gathering of top-ranked ''grandes écoles'' willing to create a collegiate university by the year 2020.
HEC is the business school of [[ParisTech]], a gathering of top-ranked ''grandes écoles'' willing to create a collegiate university by the year 2020.

Revision as of 12:46, 3 April 2013

HEC Paris
Hautes études commerciales de Paris
File:Logohec.png
TypeGrande école
Established1881
DeanBernard Ramanantsoa
Academic staff
100
Students3,500
Location,
France
AffiliationsParisTech
Websitewww.hec.edu

HEC Paris or Hautes études commerciales de Paris, located in Jouy-en-Josas, is one of the foremost business schools in France and in Europe. It 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. It has been consistently ranked as the best business school in Europe by the Financial Times[1] since the ranking's inception.

HEC is the business school of ParisTech, a gathering of top-ranked grandes écoles willing to create a collegiate university by the year 2020.

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 (engineering, law, economics, public affairs...) with foreign business schools and universities as well as other French institutions.

As well as 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 seating the concours after 2 years of preparatory classes, HEC has an admission rate of 4% and a yield of 99%.[2]

HEC is among the few grandes écoles and is known to educate Europe's top executives and political elite, and has many 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).[3] With regards to the number of CEOs of Fortune Global 500 companies, HEC ranks as the 4th higher education institution in the world, and the 1st in Europe.[4]

Overview

History

In 1819, the École supérieure de commerce de Paris became the first business school created in the world. Yet, many of the most prestigious French grandes écoles already existed. For example, the École Polytechnique and the École Normale Supérieure were created 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.

Despite its ambition and the quality of its teachers (often chosen among prestigious Parisian academics), the school was considered as a second chance for upper-class children who did not want to attend university and a way to shorten compulsory military service (one year instead of three). As a result, HEC suffered from a lack of attractiveness at least until the 1930s. Created in 1892, the entrance examination was removed between 1906 and 1913.

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.

The problem of attractiveness disappeared after world war two, due to French corporation 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.

Rankings

    Area 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006
University ranking
  Mines ParisTech
# of CEOs of Fortune Global 500
  World   4th 6th 5th 7th  
  The New York Times
Survey of CEOs and Chairmen
  World 9th          
Business School
  Financial Times Business School   Europe 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
Grande Ecole – MSc in Management
  L'Express   France 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
L'Expansion 1st 1st 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd
Le Point 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st  
Challenge   1st 1st 1st 1st 2nd
Le Figaro & L'Etudiant 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st
Financial Times Grande Ecole   World 4th 3rd 2nd 1st 1st 1st
  CEMS (Majeure) 2nd 2nd 1st 3rd 2nd  
Master in Finance
  Financial Times (Pre-experience)   World 1st          
Master in Business Administration
  Financial Times     World 18th 18th 29th 18th 18th  
    Europe 6th 6th 10th      
Wall Street Journal   World         9th 16th
  Europe            
The Economist     World   9th 14th      
    Europe   3rd 6th      
QS     Europe   7th 9th      
Forbes              
Businessweek              
Executive Education
  Financial Times EMBA   World 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd 2nd  
Ex. Education 1st 2nd 5th      

Since 2006, HEC Paris has been ranked 1st in Europe by the Financial Times [5] followed by the London Business School and INSEAD. Mines ParisTech, which publishes an annual study on the educational background of CEOs of Fortune Global 500 companies, ranks HEC Paris 4th in the world, and 1st in Europe followed by Oxford University.

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.[6]

Grande Ecole – MSc in Management

French magazines and newspapers rank HEC 1st in France almost all times. The choices made by French students clearly rank HEC 1st: in 2010, ESSEC lost 285 of its admitted students to HEC, ESCP Europe lost 331 of them to HEC, while only 1 student admitted at HEC chose another business school.

The Financial Times publishes a ranking of Masters in Management, and constantly ranks the Grande Ecole degree among the top 3 programmes worldwide. The school was ranked 1st three times in the last five years. The CEMS MiM, a European programme offered to the students of the Grande Ecole is also ranked in the top 3.

Master in Business Administration (MBA)

The Master in Business Administration is generally ranked among the top 20 programmes worldwide.

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 2 programmes worldwide by the Financial Times.

Executive Education

The last ranking of the Financial Times ranks HEC first before Harvard Business School for its Executive Education programmes.

Grande Ecole (MSc in Management)

The Master of Science in Management is HEC's leading program. It was ranked number one in the world by the Financial Times from 2005 to 2008. In 2010, HEC was ranked second to its "sister school"[7] ESCP Europe. Yet, on the 2007–2010 period, 1,320 students from preparatory classes were admitted to both HEC and ESCP and none chose ESCP.

As of 2011, graduates of the Grande Ecole programme include 15 CEOs (or equivalent) of Fortune Global 500 companies.

Admissions

French students, unless they have studied abroad, must succeed at a competitive entrance examination, known as the concours. There are two concours, depending on undergraduate studies:

Holders of a non-French Bachelor's degree are required to submit a GMAT and a transcript of their grades before being interviewed.

Classes préparatoires

Lycée Henri IV in Paris was the first provider of new students in 2009

The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles are a two-year curriculum extensible to three-years, acting as a prep course with the main goal of training undergraduate students for enrolment in one of the grandes écoles. They are considered as a voie royale in the French higher education system, except for law and medical studies, and less than 5% of a generation is admitted.

Each year, more than 9,000 students enroll in prep courses for entrance exams into business schools (known as "prépa HEC" while their real names are "ECS" or "ECE"). For a minimum of two years, préparationnaires study an average of 58 hours per week.[8] Their curriculum includes Mathematics, either Economic History or Economics, Philosophy, Literature, and two foreign languages. They have written and oral examinations every week.

The concours includes at least an examination in each subject studied and both written and oral examinations. Depending on how many schools students apply to, written examinations spread over two of three weeks. HEC requires 26 hours of written exams, all of them being shared with other schools such as ESSEC and ESCP Europe. Oral examinations take place on the campus for three or four days. They are public and attended by hundreds of visitors, mainly future candidates and professors.

In 2010, 9,695 students from preparatory classes were candidates to business schools. Among them, 4,506 were candidates to HEC, the others preferring to focus on less selective schools. Among those 4,506 candidates, only 700 were invited to oral examinations, and 382 were offered admission. In 2010, the Grande Ecole's yield, or the percent of students who matriculate after being accepted, was 98.7%. The hierarchy among grandes écoles is very rigid and students enrolling at ESSEC while admitted at HEC are quite rate[9]. In 2008, only 12 students chose ESSEC while admitted in HEC, including HEC's top ranked candidate though.

Holders of a Bachelor's degree

French graduates with a licence (Bachelor's degree) can also apply for admission to the Grande Ecole programme through another dedicated concours. In 2010, 40 candidates out of 899 were offered admission (<4.5%). In practice, most of the 40 admitted candidates already hold a Master's degree. There is no waiting list.

The International Admissions Service manages the recruitment tests and interviews on behalf of HEC and three other Grandes Ecoles in France. Admission to this programme requires a degree gained upon successful completion of at least three years of university education outside France in any field.

French is not a requirement and the average GMAT of admitted students is 720.

French and foreign admitted students enroll directly in the second year of the programme.

Curriculum

French students who attended a classe préparatoire are taught fundamental managerial sciences during their first year at HEC. Courses include economics, accounting, finance, law, psychology, sociology and mathematics (models, operations research, and statistics). During this first year, students can spend a semester in a foreign university (e.g. Wharton, Bocconi University, Trinity College, University of British Columbia...) . They can also enroll in a specific one-year program to get a Bachelor's degree from a French university (see below).

Direct admits, including international students, enter directly into the second year where they begin a business intensive program. Courses include corporate and market finance, accounting, marketing, law, mathematics, management, human resources, and supply chain. Second year students are also given the opportunity to spend one semester in a foreign university. At the end of their second year, students choose specific majors, and must pass through a by far less competitive application process.

In order to graduate, students are required to have 8 months of internships. Since this is usually difficult during the summer, many students take a semester or year off for their internship, generally between the second and third year.

The final year of study covers intensive courses in the chosen major.

Dual degrees and joint programmes

HEC Paris has numerous double degree agreements with French and foreign institutions. Some of them only make degrees of the partner institution available to HEC students while others also enable selected students of the partner institution to graduate from HEC (in italics).

Among French partner institutions, Ecole Polytechnique, Mines Paris, AgroParisTech ENSAE and Télécom Paris are other colleges of ParisTech.

Bachelor's degrees

During their first year at HEC, students from preparatory classes can get a Licence (BA) from a Parisian university.

Masters in Engineering and Technology

If they accept to study four years instead of three, students from preparatory classes can receive the degree of a ParisTech engineering school (Grande Ecole degree).

Masters in Law and Public Affairs

Research Masters

Masters in Management/Economics from foreign Universities

HIEP Program

HEC IIMB Exchange Program (HIEP) is a new student exchange initiative at HEC Paris in collaboration with Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. As part of this initiative, up to twenty students from IIMB will visit HEC Paris and an equal number of students from HEC will visit IIMB every year. The HEC students will work on joint projects with their Indian counterparts on topics of mutual interest. These projects are expected to lead to a deep appreciation of the business environment on both sides, in a short period of time.[10]

Placement

Finance and consulting sectors have recruited c. 60% the class of 2006. In February 2007, two thirds of this class worked in France, with an average salary of €47,000 (± 64,000 USD), while the average salary outside France was €59,000 (± 80,000 USD). According to salary surveys graduates from the grande école HEC are among the highest paid of all French graduates.[11]

Masters of Science

HEC offers other Masters of Science for holders of non-French bachelors.

The school also offers a joint master programme in Quantitative Economics and Finance with the École Polytechnique.

Master in Business Administration (MBA)

In 1969, HEC Paris launched the HEC MBA Program, becoming one of Europe's first MBA Schools. It aims to differentiate from other MBAs by its diversity, its bilingual option, its 16-month curriculum structure, and the MBA Tournament organized by its students.

The Institut supérieur des affaires is the department of the school that manages its MBA program. This program attracts students from around the world with more than 55 nationalities represented in the 2008 graduating class. The selection process seeks a balance between academic achievement, professional experience, international exposure, and personal motivation. Knowledge of French is not an entry requirement, but participants are highly encouraged to have a basic knowledge of French by the start of the MBA Program.

The MBA Program has exchange and double degree partnerships with numerous universities and business schools around the world. It also offers a Part-Time MBA program.

In 2010, HEC MBA was ranked by the Financial Times[12] as 7th among European business schools, and 18th among worldwide business schools. The Economist,[13] on the other hand, ranked HEC MBA as 3rd in Europe and 9th worldwide.

Starting in September 2012, along with HEC's new purpose-built building, a revamped MBA curriculum was introduced. The new curriculum was developed in consultation with Bain & Company and with the personal involvement of Jean-Marc Leroux, Bain's managing director for the Paris office, and Bertrand Pointeau, vice president and director in Paris [14] [15]. The aim was to design a curriculum that will help sharpen the school’s positioning, strengthen and establish the HEC MBA programme as one of the top three in Europe and one of the top ten worldwide.

Based on the new curriculum, new MBA students will be focusing on leadership skills, through activities like the Sustainable Business Conference and the MBA Tournament both of which are organised and run by the MBA students, also through the off-campus leadership seminar at the Ecole Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr and through various club activities. Experiential learning will be playing a major role in complementing classroom activities. Finally, special attention is being given in Ethics through a dedicated cross-disciplinary approach [16].

Executive Education

The 19th century "château" dedicated to Executive Education

HEC offers a number of Executive MBAs.

Executive MBA

The HEC Executive MBA is a program for top executives with a minimum of 8 years' corporate experience which prepares for general management positions (the average background experience of students is about 14 years). The Executive MBA is a multi-site program offered in Paris (France), Beijing (China), St Petersburg (Russia) and Doha (Qatar). The courses are split between theory, case studies, strategic project, leadership training, EU community campus and foreign exchanges in the US and Asia. Program partnering universities are NYU, UCLA, Babson College in the USA, Tsinghua University in China and Nihon University in Japan. Several training formats are available to allow executives to participate in this 16 month training.

Global Executive MBA

HEC also offers the TRIUM Global Executive MBA programme jointly with Stern School of Business of NYU and the London School of Economics. It is divided into six modules held in five international business locations over a 16-month period. Whitefield Consulting Worldwide, a global MBA consultancy, has ranked the TRIUM Executive MBA programme as second worldwide. The Financial Times' most recent rankings (2009) of executive MBA programmes also placed TRIUM as second worldwide[17]

Executive Masters

HEC also offers two executive masters jointly with the University of Oxford (Saïd Business School) including the Consulting and Coaching for Change Executive MSc.

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.

Degree Letter(s)
Grande Ecole (MSc Management) H
MBA MBA
Doctorate D
Executive MBA E
Specialized Masters M
Trium Executive MBA T

Its action focuses on enhancing the career of its alumnies by organising events, networking events, promoting the school in France and abroad. It is divided into sectorial, geographical (regions in France or countries abroad) branches or by class. Worth mentionning is its branch HEC au féminin[18] gathering 10.000+ alumnae and catering to the specificities of women in business.

Amongst famous HEC alumnies, let us mention :

    • Other preeminent businessmen


Student life

Campus

HEC is located on a 110-hectare woodland campus in Jouy-en-Josas, 16 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 three 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.

Among the most recognized clubs are:

  • Sports clubs such as Rugby Club HEC, Filles HEC Rugby (Girls Rugby), Ski Club HEC, and Club Football
  • HEC débats, which organizes debates and conferences on campus, every year many prestigious personalities are invited, such as former president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 2008.
  • HEC Grand Cru, one of the most famous wineclubs amongst grandes écoles' (external site [4])
  • HEC International Students; with one-fifth of all undergraduates coming from international backgrounds, is one of the largest groups on campus
  • the Junior Entreprise (JE) acts as a junior consulting firm for local businesses. Competition for acceptance in the JE is intense, with campus-wide elections in November
  • Les Mercuriales HEC is an association which organises an international university sports tournament on HEC Campus each year, with teams participating from prestigious European business schools; its members work in collaboration with other renowned tournaments, notably EuroMilano, EuroEsade and USJ Beirut.
  • JUMP HEC organizes a yearly jumping event that is ranked among the top national events.
  • Voiles X-HEC is a sailing event organized jointly with École Polytechnique.
  • Duo-Conseil is a joint venture with students from École Polytechnique to provide consulting with a dual approach, engineering and technological expertise from École Polytechnique, and managerial expertise as well as business acumen from HEC. Only 5 students are admitted each year, thus it is a tough selection by one's peers.

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 representating 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.

Notes and references

See also

External links

48°45′29″N 2°10′13″E / 48.75806°N 2.17028°E / 48.75806; 2.17028