INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" (lit. 'European Institute of Business Administration'), is a non-profit graduate business school that maintains campuses in France (Europe Campus), Singapore (Asia Campus), and the United Arab Emirates (Middle East Campus). INSEAD is associated with Sorbonne University and The Wharton School.

History

Georges Doriot was a French-American venture capitalist and a professor at Harvard Business School who founded the American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) in 1946, one of the first publicly owned venture capital firms. Doriot’s career was also shaped by his service as a General in the US Army during World War II, where he led the Military Planning Division. After the war, Doriot planned a business school that would unite leaders from different countries, including the formerly hostile, to rebuild economies and promote peace. This included citizenship limits and language of instruction to be interchangeably in either French, English or German to ensure cross-culture collaboration. By the 21st century, however, all classes were being taught in English. In 1955, Doriot presented this idea to the Paris Chamber of Commerce, whose presidents, Jean Marcou and Philippe Dennis, funded the venture and became first presidents of the school. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower also supported INSEAD. Doriot selected Claude Janssen and Olivier Giscard d'Estaing, his former students at Harvard, as his co-founders. Janssen, well-connected in European business circles, had experience in finance, while Giscard d'Estaing, younger brother of the future French president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, brought a political network, securing support from influential figures in France and abroad. INSEAD was established in 1957 and initially operated out of the Château de Fontainebleau, before relocating to its current Europe Campus in 1967. The first MBA class began on 12 September 1959, with 57 students.

Campuses

The original campus (the Europe Campus) is located in Fontainebleau, near Paris, France. The second campus (the Asia Campus) is in the one-north district of the city-state of Singapore. The third campus (the Middle East Campus) is located in Abu Dhabi. A San Francisco campus was opened in 2020, and followed the US business school method.

Grande école system

INSEAD is a grande école, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of the French public university system. Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and the C9 League in China, grandes écoles are academic institutions that admit students through a competitive process.

Degree programmes

Specialised Master's degree programs are offered in Management (INSEAD Master in Management program), an MBA program, Master in Change, Master in Finance, and a Phd program.

Rankings and reputation

QS World Universities Rankings has been ranking INSEAD #2 globally in the Subject Ranking for Business and Management since 2018, behind Harvard University.

Alumni

The INSEAD alumni community consists of 68,861 individuals across 179 countries with 171 nationalities.

Partnerships and alliances

INSEAD is in alliance with several academic and business partners.