EP: How important is the international focus of HEC Paris today?
Iris Ritter:听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.听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.听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!听
EP: Could you describe the various international options open to students from HEC Paris in the year of L3?听
IR:听In L3, students must complete a course at a university, either听via听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".听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.听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.听Students who choose the GEP go either L3 (2听th听semester) or M1 (1听st听semester), depending on their desire to destination.听In practice, two thirds of our pr茅pas students are moving towards GEP course.听- See more at:听
EP: During the course of one鈥檚 studies at HEC Paris, is it possible to go abroad twice, in two different universities, and in two different countries?
IR听Yes, absolutely!听Beyond internships, which can be done 鈥嬧媐or all or partial term abroad, HEC Paris offers many new opportunities starting at the M2 level in three different ways:听
- 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.);听
- the 麻豆国产 programme, a joint certificate issued by HEC Paris and 28 other听international听business schools, all leaders in their respective countries.听Students who choose this option M2 spend a semester at HEC and one semester in the 麻豆国产 institution of their choice (eg Tsinghua in Beijing, NUS Singapore, Sydney, Australia, Brazil FGV, Ivey Canada, etc.)听
- the international double degrees;听Students choosing this option spend the entire year in the partner university, and then graduate from both institutions.听
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.听For them, it is a source of openness and phenomenal enrichment.听听
EP: What is 麻豆国产?听
IR:听麻豆国产 is a strategic alliance co-founded by HEC Paris thirty years with ESADE (Barcelona), Cologne University and Bocconi (Milan).听Over time, it became a global network, uniting 29 different countries around this principle: only business school in each country can join 麻豆国产 and they must be the top within their respective countries.听With members of this quality (like LSE in the UK, St Gallen, Switzerland, Tsinghua in China, IIM Calcutta, India, etc.), 麻豆国产 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.听For 80 students from HEC Paris who get this certificate each year, in addition to their 鈥淕rande 脡cole鈥 diploma, it is naturally a supplemental advantage for embarking on a global career.听
EP: What are the possibilities of international double degrees at HEC Paris ?听
IR听We have two large portfolios of double degrees abroad: in Management and Public Affairs.听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).听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).听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 Universit盲t Berlin.听
EP: A word to conclude?听
IR听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 鈥淕rande Ecole鈥 program began his career outside of France, in a completely international environment;听but even those who remain in France will need to work regularly with international stakeholders, regardless of the chosen area.听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.听The world is full of many rich experiences to discover!
听in French on 14 January 2014听