Founded in 1881 byGustave Emmanuel Roy, president of theParis Chamber of Commerce (CCIP), with 57 students in its first class, theÉcole des hautes études commerciales de Paris (HEC) aimed to be in the fields of management and commerce what theÉcole Centrale de Paris was in the field of engineering.
In 1921, the school introduced thecase-based method of theHarvard Business School, but most of the lectures remained theoretical. In 1938, the HEC program was lengthened to 3 years.
Due to French corporations' demand for North-American-style management education, at the end of the 1950s, the case-based method was generalized and a one-yearclasse préparatoire was created to prepare for the entrance examination, which had become more difficult. As a result, only 9% of HEC students had attended university in 1959, whereas 47% had done so in 1929.
In 1964, French PresidentCharles de Gaulle inaugurated a new 250-acre (1.0 km2) wooded campus inJouy-en-Josas. In 1967, HEC launched its executive education programs. Women have been accepted at HEC since 1973. Only 27 women were accepted that year andHEC jeunes filles (HECJF), another school dedicated to women, was closed. Its alumnae are officially considered graduates of HEC, and includeÉdith Cresson, the first femalePrime Minister of France.
The doctoral course was established in 1975 but until 1985 doctoral students had to complete their thesis at the university. In 1985 the HEC obtained the right to award thetitle of doctor, beforeESSEC (2010)[11] andESCP (2012).[12]
The school has developed professorships financed by companies (Deloitte,EDF,Toshiba and others) to multiply links between HEC and companies. The HEC Foundation, founded in 1972, has the specific aim of developing these connections and the financing of the school by companies.[13]
Ties with businesses were strengthened in the 1990s and this led to greater specialization, with the establishment of finance and entrepreneurship courses in 1986. As a consequence of thefinancial Big Bang and the explosion of theCity, more and more graduates went to work in England and, in general, abroad. In 2006, a third found their first job abroad. In 2015 the school adopted a new legal statute to allow private investors to join the board of directors.[14]
On 1 July 2008, HEC Paris joinedParisTech and thenParis-Saclay University as a founding member. The university campus of Jouy-en-Josas, in theYvelines department, is located in the northern part of the technological cluster ofParis-Saclay, which brings together a quarter of French public research. HEC Paris is part of the network of graduate schools of business (ESC) in the Paris Île-de-France area, together with ESSEC and ESCP Business School.
In 2016, the school adopted a new legal status and became a public-private partnership (École consulaire or EESC), largely financed by the publicChamber of Commerce in Paris.[15]
Higher education business degrees in France are organized into three levels thus facilitating international mobility: theLicence (Bachelor's),Master's, andDoctorate degrees. A Bachelor's degree requires the completion of 180 ECTS credits (bac + 3); a Master's, requires an additional 120 ECTS credits (bac + 5). HEC Paris offers a bachelor's degree since October 2023.[2]
Its highly coveted PGE(Programme Grande École orGrande École program) ends with the awarding ofMaster's in Management (MiM) degree.[55][56][57] Outside of thePGE, students at HEC can be awarded other master's degrees, such as the MBA (bac + 5), or a PhD (bac + 8).[2]
TheMBA program, created in 1969, has two intakes: September and January. HEC's MBA consists of a 16-month-long curriculum, with 8 months of core courses and 8 months of a customized program, including several specialization options, exchange programs, and fieldwork projects.[62] A typical class is composed of some 250 students – 90% of whom are international students – with more than 52 nationalities represented in the 2017 graduating class.[63] 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, while mandatory (during the first two core terms) and optional language courses are offered throughout the program. Exchange and dual degree programs are offered with about 40 international partner business schools, including theSingapore Management University,HKUST,London Business School,Columbia Business School,Wharton, andYale.[64][65]
The Executive MSc Innovation & Entrepreneurship is a program created by HEC Paris and delivered partly onCoursera.[66] 100% online, it takes 18 months.[67] The first students were admitted in March 2017.[68]
Formerly (until 2002)Centre de perfectionnement aux affaires,[69] the HEC Executive MBA is a program for top executives with a minimum of 8 years of corporate experience, which prepares them 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 projects, leadership training, EU community campus and foreign exchanges in the US and Asia. Program partnering universities are NYU, UCLA, Babson College in the US, Tsinghua University in China and Nihon University in Japan.[70]
HEC also offers the TRIUM Global Executive MBA programme jointly withStern School of Business ofNYU and theLondon School of Economics.[71] It is divided into six modules that are held in five international business locations over 16 months.[72]
HI! PARIS CENTER - A collaboration with theInstitut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), this interdisciplinary and inter-institutional centre combines education, research and innovation to investigate the major challenges surrounding digital transformation and its impact on companies and society at large. This Center combines the 300 researchers and infrastructures of IP Paris and HEC Paris.[76]
Society & Organizations Institute - an interdisciplinary Institute that brings together over 60 professors to research, teach and implement ideas in sustainability and inclusion.[77]
GREGHEC - TheGroupement de Recherche et d’Etudes en Gestion à HEC Paris is a joint research laboratory focused on economics and management in France.[78]
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute - 20 partnerships of excellence; 400 projects supported each year; an ecosystem of 400 professors, researchers and recognized experts.[79]
The school has been offering a degree in entrepreneurship for more than 40 years, by creating HEC Entrepreneurs in 1977,[80] which has today become the MSc X-HEC Entrepreneurs, in partnership withÉcole Polytechnique.[81] Between 2004 and 2013, the percentage of entrepreneurs per class jumped from 10% to 25%.[82] In 2007,[83] HEC Paris created Incubateur HEC Paris, itsstartup incubator dedicated to supporting alumni-created startups. Currently directed by Antoine Leprêtre, the incubator has been part of theStation F campus since 2017.[84] Since 2017, the school has also an online Master's degree dedicated to this topic.[85]
HEC is located on a 110-hectare campus inJouy-en-Josas, 16 km (10 miles) southwest of central Paris, close toVersailles. Jouy-en-Josas is served by theRER Parisian suburban train and the local bus service. The campus is built around the 19th-centuryChâteau de Jouy [fr], which is currently used for Executive Education classes.[86]
HEC Paris in Qatar is a remote campus of HEC Paris, located inDoha, the capital ofQatar.[87]HEC Paris in Qatar is the result of an agreement between HEC Paris and theQatar Foundation.[88]
HEC Paris in Qatar campus is located in the “Tornado Tower” in the heart of the “West Bay” financial centre of the city of Doha.[89]HEC Qatar offers four types of programs, including anExecutive MBA and aMastère spécialisé program.[90]
The HEC UK House was inaugurated in March 2023. Close toCovent Garden, the campus is dedicated to thealumni network and conferences. It also has alibrary and a creative lab.[91]
The school alumni association,Association des diplômés HEC Paris, was founded in 1883 and gathers alumni of the different institutions of the 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. In 2017, HEC Alumni were ranked byThe Economist as the 2nd most powerful business school alumni network in the world.[92]
