EP: How important is the international focus of HEC Paris today?
Iris Ritter: In practice, the international experience that HEC offers its students begins on the first day: students from preparatory classes will discover a completely international campus on their first day of school in September, with more than 95 nationalities intermingling in: dormitories, courtyards, associations, sports clubs, etc. While most of our students from preparatory classes have experienced an almost exclusively French-speaking environment, they will hear overnight many different languages around them, have the opportunity to meet new people every day with young people from all continents, discovering new cultures, new understandings, etc. Of course, the international offer of HEC goes well beyond this, but we do not always realize how much the campus itself is already no longer exactly France, but rather a global melting pot, a rich concentration of the cultural and human environment of our beautiful planet!
EP: Could you describe the various international options open to students from HEC Paris in the year of L3?
IR: In L3, students must complete a course at a university, either via a license in France (law, art history, economics, mathematics, cognitive science, etc.) or through an academic exchange abroad, as part of what we call the "GEP" or "Global Exchange Program". It is an open program: Students who choose this route can thus freely choose the courses they wish to follow in their host university and have access to the most varied portfolio of courses: management, of course, but especially in the humanities, law, political science, economics, sociology, psychology, science, design, languages, etc. This international mobility experience enables our students to be open to another academic universe, and live within the challenges of multi-culturalism, that are sure to help them in their future management career. Students who choose the GEP go either L3 (2 th semester) or M1 (1 st semester), depending on their desire to destination. In practice, two thirds of our prépas students are moving towards GEP course. - See more at: https://grandes-ecoles.studyrama.com/
EP: During the course of one’s studies at HEC Paris, is it possible to go abroad twice, in two different universities, and in two different countries?
IR Yes, absolutely! Beyond internships, which can be done for all or partial term abroad, HEC Paris offers many new opportunities starting at the M2 level in three different ways:
- a new academic exchange, within this time the "MEP", or "Master Exchange Program": Students who choose this option then spend a semester on the HEC campus (in the context of the Major "International Business") and one semester at the partner in an MBA curriculum at a very high international level (Cornell University, UCLA, Duke University, Fudan, etc.);
- the CEMS programme, a joint certificate issued by HEC Paris and 28 other international business schools, all leaders in their respective countries. Students who choose this option M2 spend a semester at HEC and one semester in the CEMS institution of their choice (eg Tsinghua in Beijing, NUS Singapore, Sydney, Australia, Brazil FGV, Ivey Canada, etc.)
- the international double degrees; Students choosing this option spend the entire year in the partner university, and then graduate from both institutions.
In total, not including internships, students particularly interested in international studies have the opportunity to spend half of their education in another leading university on the world stage. For them, it is a source of openness and phenomenal enrichment.
EP: What is CEMS?
IR: CEMS is a strategic alliance co-founded by HEC Paris thirty years with ESADE (Barcelona), Cologne University and Bocconi (Milan). Over time, it became a global network, uniting 29 different countries around this principle: only business school in each country can join CEMS and they must be the top within their respective countries. With members of this quality (like LSE in the UK, St Gallen, Switzerland, Tsinghua in China, IIM Calcutta, India, etc.), CEMS has become over time the alliance of reference in the Masters in Management segment, and the certificate jointly issued by its 29 members is naturally of a very high value in the world market. For 80 students from HEC Paris who get this certificate each year, in addition to their “Grande École” diploma, it is naturally a supplemental advantage for embarking on a global career.
EP: What are the possibilities of international double degrees at HEC Paris ?
IR We have two large portfolios of double degrees abroad: in Management and Public Affairs. In Management, HEC students have the opportunity to graduate from prestigious institutions such as MIT in the United States, Keio in Japan, or very well-known European institutions (TUM Munich, St Gallen, ESADE, Bocconi). We have also developed a dual degree in each of the BRIC countries, because they are particularly attractive territories for our graduates (see FGV in Brazil, GSOM Russia, IIM Ahmedabad in India, Tsinghua in China). Furthermore, in Public Affairs, we offer our students the opportunity to graduate from Georgetown in the United States from MGIMO in Moscow, or from the Freie Universität Berlin.
EP: A word to conclude?
IR Our students are called to exercise a high level of responsibilities early on in their Careers in multicultural settings: over one in three students of the “Grande Ecole” program began his career outside of France, in a completely international environment; but even those who remain in France will need to work regularly with international stakeholders, regardless of the chosen area. The full international and multi-cultural experience that our students acquire the campus of HEC Paris allows them to fully flourish, both in both a professional way and a human one, in a world of increasing globalization. The world is full of many rich experiences to discover!
As published on Studyrama Grandes Ecoles in French on 14 January 2014