HEC Paris

French students who attended a classe préparatoire are taught fundamental managerial sciences during their first year at HEC. Courses include economics, accounting, finance, law, psychology, sociology and mathematics (models, operations research, and statistics). During this first year, students can spend a semester in a foreign university (e.g. Wharton, Bocconi University, Trinity College Dublin, University of British Columbia, etc.). They can also enroll in a specific one-year program to get a bachelor's degree from a French university (see below).

Direct admissions, including international students, enter directly into the second year, where they begin a business intensive program. Courses include corporate and market finance, accounting, marketing, law, mathematics, management, human resources, and supply chain. Second-year students are also given the opportunity to spend one semester in a foreign university. At the end of their second year, students choose specific majors and must pass through a less competitive application process.

In order to graduate, students are required to have 8 months of internships. Since this is usually difficult during the summer, many students take a semester or year off for their internship, generally between the second and third year. The final year of study covers intensive courses in the chosen major.

HEC Paris has numerous double degree agreements with French and foreign institutions, including Sorbonne Universite, Sciences Po Paris, ENS Paris, and Ecole Polytechnique in France, and Yale University, HKUST, and FGV abroad.[23] Some of them only make degrees of the partner institution available to HEC students, while others also enable selected students of the partner institution to graduate from HEC.

• MSc International Finance
• MSc Managerial and Financial Economics
• MSc/MS Media Art and Creation
• MSc Strategic Management
• MSc/MS Marketing
• MSc Sustainability and Social Innovation
• MSc Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The MBA program, created in 1969, has two intakes: September and January. HEC's MBA consists in a 16-month-long curriculum, with 8 months of core courses and 8 months of customized program, including several specialization options, exchange programs, and fieldwork projects.[24] 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.[25] 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 duration of the program. Exchange and dual degree programs are offered with about 40 international partner business schools, including HKUST, London Business School, Columbia Business School, Wharton, and Yale.[26][27]

The HEC Executive MBA is a program for top executives with a minimum of 8 years of corporate experience, which prepares 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 project, 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.

HEC also offers the TRIUM Global Executive MBA programme jointly with Stern School of Business of NYU and the London School of Economics. It is divided into six modules that are held in five international business locations over a 16-month period.

The HEC Paris PhD in Management provides training for careers in research and academia.[28] It offers 7 specialisations and usually takes 4–5 years to complete. The specialisations offered are: Accounting & Management Control, Economics & Decision Sciences, Finance, Information Systems & Operations Management, Management & Human Resources, Marketing, and Strategy & Business Policy. As of December 2020, there are 59 students in the program, representing 18 nationalities. More than 90% of the students join an academic career on completion. All PhD students receive a full tuition waiver, a five-year cost of living scholarship and research support funding.

HEC Paris has been offering a degree in entrepreneurship for more than 40 years, by creating HEC Entrepreneurs in 1977,[31] which has today become the MSc X-HEC Entrepreneurs, in partnership with École Polytechnique.[32]

Since the creation of HEC Entrepreneurs, HEC alumni have created more than 600 companies.[31] Between 2004 and 2013, the percentage of entrepreneurs per class jumped from 10% to 25%.[33]

In 2007,[34] HEC Paris created Incubateur HEC Paris, its startup incubator dedicated to supporting alumni-created startups. Currently directed by Antoine Leprêtre, the incubator has been part of the Station F campus since 2017.[35]

HEC is located on a 110-hectare woodland campus in Jouy-en-Josas, 16 km. (10 miles) southwest of central Paris, close to Versailles. Jouy-en-Josas is served by the RER Parisian suburban train and the local bus service. The campus is built around a 19th-century château, which is currently used for Executive Education classes.

Lodging is provided in one of ten dormitories (Bâtiments) providing basic but furnished rooms. Everyone eats together at the University Restaurant, which serves two meals a day in a soup kitchen setting. Grande école and Specialized Master students have classes in the Bâtiment des études (Batzet), while MBA students study in a specially designated building. There are three on-campus bars: Le Zinc, which is located on the second floor of the former Cafeteria (or Kfet), Le Wunder Bar, which is located on the first floor next to the Kfet, and the Piano Bar, which is adjacent to the MBA residence hall. The campus also boasts several sports fields, gym facilities and two lakes.

There are around 130 clubs or "associations" on campus.

The HEC Student Council (Bureau des Élèves in French, or BDE) is in charge of the social entertainment on campus. It is also in charge of coordinating all club activities and representing the students in front of the campus administration. The BDE organizes weekly events such as POWs ("Parties of the Week"), lunches and dinners, speakers, and sport events. HEC parties, which usually are organised every Thursday, are some of the most recognized ones among all French schools and universities. The BDE is composed of a 40-student team that is elected each year in April and for which the competition among students creates the well-known Student Office Campaign.

The HEC MBA Council is in charge of all social activities related to the MBA student body. It manages the MBA students' Piano Bar in the Expansiel Building (Building A), coordinates and sometimes funds all MBA club activities (speaker events, sports events, dinners, etc.), works to expand the HEC MBA brand, develops campus and alumni relations, sets up the new MBA students' integration week, and generally relays student concerns and needs to the administration. Elections for the MBA Council are bi-annual so as to accommodate both January and September MBA intakes.

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 has been ranked by The Economist as the 2nd most powerful business school alumni network in the world.[36]