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Audencia was founded in 1900 as the École Supérieure de Commerce de Nantes.[6] Until 1970, the school occupied the building which is today home to the city'snatural historymuseum. It then moved into a purpose-builtcampus of 23,000 m2 to the north of thecity centre oppositeNantes University.
In 2000, the school changed its name to Audencia Nantes School of Management.[6] The name "Audencia" is a blend of two words: audientia, which means "listening," and audacia or "boldness."
In 2015, the school was reaccredited by the three global accreditations (AMBA, EQUIS, AACSB) for the maximum period of five years.
In 2016, the school changed its name to Audencia Business School which includes the bachelor and masters programmes of former schools SciencesCom and the Ecole Atlantique de Commerce.
In 2017, the school adopted a new legal status and became a public-private partnership (École consulaire or EESC) largely financed by the public Chambers of Commerce in Nantes St-Nazaire.[1]
Audencia is anÉcole consulaire (EESC), a private institution ofhigher education funded and supervised by the city of Nantes, the local council and thechamber of commerce and industry.[1] As a member of theConférence des grandes écoles, Audencia has the status of aGrande école.[7]Grandes écoles are elite French institutions of higher education that are separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of theFrench public university system.Grandes écoles admit students through an extremely competitive process, and a significant proportion of their graduates occupy the highest levels of French society.[8][9][10] Similar toIvy League schools in the United States,Russell Group in the UK, andC9 League in China, graduation from a grande école is considered the prerequisite credential for any top government, administrative and corporate position in France.[11][12]
The degrees are accredited by theConférence des Grandes Écoles[13] and awarded by theMinistry of National Education (France).[14] Higher education business degrees in France are organized into three levels thus facilitating international mobility: theLicence /Bachelor's degrees, and theMaster's andDoctorat degrees. The Bachelors and the Masters are organized in semesters: 6 for the Bachelors and 4 for the Masters.[15][16] 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)[15][16][17]
Bachelor in Management – Three-year programme. Admission possible in year three after prior studies.
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) – Four year programme with the fourth year split between studies and in-company period. Specialisations in agribusiness or purchasing.
Audencia Master in Management (Grande école programme) – Four years including one in-company.
Audencia Full-Time MBA – Taught in English over a 12-month period.
Executive MBA – 18 months part-time, taught in French, with international seminars in English.
Euro*MBA – Executive programme run by a consortium of six European business schools including Audencia Nantes. Taught over 24 months through distance learning and six European residential weeks.
MSc in Management-Engineering – An English-language programme followed by students from around 20 French and foreign engineering schools. An 18-month course with a study period abroad. Ranked 55th in the world in the Financial Times’ masters in management ranking (September 2020).
European and International Business Management Programme (EIBM) – Trilingual (English, French, Spanish) programme in 12 and 14-month formats taught in three countries. Run by Audencia Nantes and two academic partners in the UK and Spain.
International Master in Management (IMM) – Year-long programme taught in English with the possibility of studying on the campus of one of eight exclusive partners.
Master Supply Chain and Purchasing Management – English-taught double degree split between Audencia Nantes and MIP Politecnico di Milano (Italy). Available in 12 or 18-month formats.
MSc in Food and Agribusiness Management – a 15-month programme in partnership with ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e marketing), Brazil and with the support of the Crédit Agricole. Taught 100% in English.
MSc in Management and Entrepreneurship in the Creative Economy (MSc MECE) – an 18-month programme taught in English in partnership with theInnovation School of The Glasgow school of Art.
Masters programme Communications and Media – Three-year programme including 15 months of internships.`
Masters programme Public policy Management – in partnership withSciences Po Lille[19]
Specialised masters accredited by the French Conférence des Grandes Ecoles and taught in French: Management of Sports Organisations; Management and International Competences; Marketing Design & Création; Global Purchasing and Supply Chain Management; Finance, Risk, Control; Marketing Strategies for the Digital Age; Business Development
In 2021, Audencia was ranked 7th business school in France byL'Étudiant.[20] In 2022, theFinancial Times ranked its Masters in Management program 47th in the world.[21] Audencia's Full-Time MBA was ranked 58th in the MBA ranking 2018 byCNN Expansion and 90th in the world byThe Economist (October 2018).[22]
Within France, Audencia entered an alliance with theÉcole Centrale de Nantes and the NantesÉcole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture (ensa Nantes) to promote engineering, management, architecture and creativity to enrich the teaching, research, corporate relations and international scope of all three schools.[1]The school signed its first agreement with a non-Frenchacademic institution in 1972.[23] Today, Audencia has more than 230 international partners. While the earliest accords concerned North American business schools (especially those in the USA), the school now has partnerships throughout the world.[24]
In 2022 several articles in the Press appeared indicating an organisation of Toxic and Sexist Management leading up to several people leaving their functions, first the Associate Dean, and finally the Dean, Christophe Germain. At least 47 testimonies from the inside reported on stress, press, manipulation, burn-outs high sick-leaves and turn-over of employees, non-application of workers rights.[28][29][30][31]
^Monique de Saint-Martin, « Les recherches sociologiques sur les grandes écoles : de la reproduction à la recherche de justice », Éducation et sociétés 1/2008 (No. 21), p. 95-103.lire en ligne surCairn.info
