France has emerged as a major hub of leading business schools. These prominent business schools are staying at the top of their game and delivering excellent academic and infrastructural facilities to the students. They have a well-defined mission and an extensive academic program, which enables students to learn more and explore their limits in the domain of business. These renowned b-schools are responsible towards transforming students into the business leaders of tomorrow.

One such noteworthy school in France, which has made waves in the arena of business education is none other than Audencia. Founded in Nantes in 1900, Audencia – ex ESC Nantes, whose name was born from the conjugation of the Latin “audientia” for listening and “audacia” for audacity – is positioned, with a 1^st EQUIS accreditation in 1998, among the best European Management Schools.

An Impressive Saga

In 2004, Audencia joined the UN initiative uniting companies, the business world and civil society around 10 universal principles for labour and environmental standards and human rights. It was the first business school in France to join the Global Compact.

Since then, Audencia has been developing and disseminating our expertise in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and integrating it into its research, teaching, and internal management.

In 2010, Audencia incorporated the strengths of SciencesCom (a media and communication school founded in 1984) and the École Atlantique de Commerce (for post-baccalaureate education, set up in 1981). Both are accredited programmes ranked amongst the best in their specialist area.

Audencia can therefore now offer management and communication programmes from bachelor’s to doctoral level. It has also developed executive courses, available in France as well as internationally, which provide educational solutions to meet the strategic challenges and operational objectives of businesses.

Audencia currently has three campuses in Nantes, one in La-Roche-sur-Yon, one in Paris, four in China and one in Brazil soon.

In 2013, the École Centrale de Nantes, Audencia and the Nantes École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture (ensa Nantes) formed a strategic alliance for greater synergy. This alliance unites engineering, management, architecture, and creativity to enrich the teaching, research, corporate relations, and international scope of all three schools.

In 2015, Audencia was awarded reaccreditation by EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA for the maximum period of five years. It also had the first combined start of the university year for the schools in its alliance.

Audencia’s Values, Mission, and Vision

Audencia has at its core three fundamental values- Innovation, Cooperation, and Responsibility. Through its programmes and numerous business and academic partnerships in France and worldwide, it actively contributes to its own development and expansion.

Audencia intends to continue to implement teaching adapted to the needs and expectations of its students. Furthermore, the school plans to address the pressing issues necessary to continue improving business and society.

The school wants to be even more widely known for the international quality of its teaching and research in areas such as innovation, corporate social responsibility, and finance. The Centrale Audenciaensa Nantes Alliance will accelerate this growth.

Audencia educates and accompanies innovators who create value through responsible actions. In collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, it produces and diffuses knowledge designed to transform teaching and inspire new business practices.

Plethora of Excellent Educational Offerings

Audencia offers a wide variety of courses, which provides students with the ability to transform into seasoned professionals and uplift the business sector. Various courses offered by the school are as follows:

BACHELOR’S IN MANAGEMENT, BBA and Extended Msc

• Bachelor in Management
• BBA Big DATA & Management in 4 years
• Bachelor in Financial Services and Marketing in partnership with School of School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (Chengdu, China)
• Extended Msc

GENERALIST MASTERS

• Master in Management (Grande École Programme)
• International Master in Management
• Master in European and International Business Management

SPECIALIZED MASTERS and Msc

• MSc International Master in Management
• MSc in Food and Agribusiness Management
• MSc in Supply Chain and Purchasing Management
• MSc Financial Technology Risk & Control (Shenzhen, China)
• MSc in Business Administration in partnership with Western
• Business School, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (Chengdu, China)
• MSc in Data Management for Finance
• Master in European and International Business Management
• Specialized Master in Management Responsible des Organisations Sportives
• Specialized Master in Management et Compétences Internationales
• Specialized Master in Marketing Design et Création (Titre RNCP Niveau 7)
• Specialized Master in Management Global des Achats et de la Supply Chain (Titre RNCP Niveau 7)
• Specialized Master in Stratégies Financières et Investissements Responsables
• Specialized Master in Stratégies Digitales et Data Marketing (Titre RNCP Niveau 7)
• Specialized Master in Acteur pour la Transition Energétique

SCIENCESCOM (COMMUNICATION and MEDIAS)

• Bachelor cycle
• Master cycle

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION and MBAs

• 2150 executives, managers and leaders trained/year
• Qualiopi certification
• An MBA DBA Community
• 7 specialised degree programmes (classroom, blended or 100% digital)
• More than 90 certification courses or «à la carte» training modules
• Intra-company & tailor-made solutions deployed in France and internationally
• DOCTORATE
• DBA Audencia Business School
• DBA Audencia Business School in partnership with Western Business School, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (Chengdu, China)
• DBA in Social Responsibility & Strategic Philanthropy in partnership with the China Global Philanthropy Institute

Delivering Exceptional Pedagogical Experiences

Within its programmes, Audencia defends several pedagogical axes to offer trainings. Some of the major aspects that the school focuses on are as follows:

• Empowering: Peer feedback, group work, and project-based learning help develop the autonomy of each student.
• Excellence: Relying on the quality of the school’s academic body, it translates into a strong involvement of each participant in the teaching methods offered.
• Professionalizing: Students are quickly familiarized with the professional world and its stakes through studies and projects entrusted by renowned companies.
• Committed: Students are called upon to take a stand but also to question their beliefs and prejudices in the context of their future managerial missions.
• Hybrid: Tomorrow’s jobs require multidisciplinary knowledge and multiple intelligences developed through the portfolio of programmes.

About the Audencia Strategic Plan (ECOS 2025)

Audencia aims to invent a new business school model – a more responsible model, training and inspiring ‘citizens of the world’ who decisively share humanistic values and understand that our destiny is interconnected. This creates community on a global scale. To reflect this, the school shaped the strategic plan ECOS 2025 using a new approach: DARING TOGETHER. This strategy was a collective process taking place over several months, during which the students, graduates, lecturers, researchers, support staff, and partners contributed in pursuit of a common objective: to map out the trajectory of the collective future, to build a ‘new frontier’ together.

As per the strategic plan, the school intends to fulfil the following objectives:

• The creation of Gaïa, Audencia’s School of Ecological and Social Transition
• Holistic multidisciplinary
• Development for greater impact
• New organizational alignment

Gaïa is the very first school to be launched by a business school that is entirely dedicated to training in positive-impact managerial strategies and practices, in line with sustainable development objectives. Gaïa will build tomorrow’s professional projects, entrepreneurial initiatives, and research work around the major dimensions of ecological and social transition.

A pioneer in dual competencies with the creation of The Centrale-Audencia-ensa Nantes Alliance 10 years ago, Audencia is now applying this approach holistically by offering new dual degree or dual skills courses, both nationally and internationally. Audencia aims to make Homo Audenciens a manager with multidisciplinary skills (100% of students with multidisciplinary skills by 2025). The school believes that multidisciplinary learning equips the students with the precious skills and vision that prepares them to address the global society’s future challenges and needs.

Driven by the objective to attain meaningful results, Audencia intends to imagine and design every project specifically for the target stakeholder. Whether at the programme, international, initial training, or executive education level, it will fully contribute in the professional, societal, and environmental realms. To increase its impact, Audencia will rely on a sustained, controlled, and inclusive development that will enable it to reach a budget of 100 million euros in 2025.

The Gems of Audencia

Throughout its illustrious journey of educating students, Audencia has produced numerous graduates, who have made it big in different walks of life. These alumni have become successful in different endeavours. The school has a powerful network with more than 30 000 graduates and 6 100 students, in France and worldwide. Since their very first day at Audencia, they benefit from a lifetime membership. They are also accompanied during their path and professional career.

About the Audencia Foundation

The Audencia Foundation (under the auspices of the Fondation de France), created in 2009, aims to support the development and outreach of the school as well as social and culture openness through scholarships. Throughout its tenure, the foundation has raised more than €16 million. It has 6 chairs who lead a research-oriented programme. The foundation has granted more than 650 scholarships and has more than 1900 graduates and donor friends. It is supported by 125 corporate sponsors.

Emphasis on Training and Research

Audencia’s faculty, through its teaching and research activities, is organised into eight departments:

• Accounting, Management Control and Economics
• Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation
• Information Systems and Supply Chain Management
• Organization Studies and Ethics
• Communication, Culture and Languages
• Finance
• Marketing
• Sport

Departments and disciplines lead teaching and research activities, promote synergies between these two activities, and develop partnerships with business and civil society.

Audencia’s Research Department include 6 chairs and a research action programme, co-financed by companies:

• Positive Impact
• Family & Society Entrepreneurship
• Global Multi-Capital Performance
• REALITIES – Bringing the intelligence of the territories to life
• Finance for innovation
• Purchasing and digital innovation

It also runs a «Behaviours and Financial Vulnerability» action research programme. Audencia boasts a faculty of over 148 members.

Giving to the Society

Audencia has always carried out responsible and impactful CSR activities. It has made various noteworthy partnerships and achievements over the years. Some of its major achievements in terms of corporate social responsibilities are as follows:

• 2004: Signature of the Global Compact of the United Nations
• 2005: Signature of the Diversity Charter
• 2010: Signature of a strategic partnership with WWF France (renewed in 2013 and 2016)
• 2015: Signature of the LGBT Charter
• 2020: One of the 30 schools in the world to be integrated into the Positive Impact Rating

Presence Across the Globe

Audencia is a part of the very closed circle of schools benefitting from the triple EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA accreditation for a maximum of 5 years. It is dedicated to achieving excellence in teaching procedures. The school not only has a diverse faculty and student body, but also has campuses in France and China. It joins hands with various international universities of North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Europe.

It has joined hands with 212 international partners from various international universtites of North America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Europe.

Offering Financial Support

Audencia Foundation contributes to the school’s development in France and abroad and offers financial assistance to the students in need.