by Séverine Jauffret,
ESSEC Corporate-Student Relations Director
and Michèle Pekar-Lempereur,
ESSEC MBA International Development Director

As ESSEC’s 100th year in existence draws to a close, it seems a fitting moment to wonder just how an institution that started out with a class of just 7 students has managed to reach its current size and status. Whilst statistics do not always tell the whole story, a brief look at the exceptional number of partnerships and alliances now in place goes some way towards showing how this has happened.

Séverine Jauffret, ESSEC Corporate-Student Relations Director and
Michèle Pekar-Lempereur, ESSEC MBA International Development Director

Academic partnerships across the world

On the academic front, international exchange programs with 120 different institutions across the world are now available to students, with many Faculty and Executive Education opportunities as well. Some of these have been more than 20 years in place (Kellogg, Keio and IIM-Ahmedabad being noteworthy examples), whilst new institutions and alliances continue to be sealed for the benefit of many.

A corporate network at the service of students and researchers

On the corporate front, ESSEC currently lays claim to 300 companies involved in official educational and/or recruitment partnerships, from participation in annual job fairs through to significant support of research and teaching chairs. As a direct result, ESSEC MBA students are increasingly sought after, almost 70% of a class well before graduation, and the amount of innovative research activity in direct collaboration with the business world is on a continual upward curve (as witnessed by the creation of 10 Chairs since 2003).

Financial backing for infrastructure development

In response to the ever-growing needs and nature of our Faculty and student population, our institution also needs to grow at a similar rate. This has also been made possible by partnerships of enormous significance, most notably the 25+ years of financial support from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Versailles Val d’Oise-Yvelines.

More recently, the first phase of the ESSEC Development Campaign has also served as proof of the long-running partnerships that the school enjoys with corporate donors and ever-generous alumni, with the 2003-07 target of €25 million being surpassed (107% of the initial objective).

It is therefore with a nod to long-standing partnerships as well as a look at some of the newest to have been created that the International Newsletter this month brings you news of both recent successes and celebrations of past achievements at ESSEC.