Foundation (1907–1913) ESSEC was established in 1907 under the Economic Institute by Ferdinand Le Pelletier in
Paris. Its creation followed the movement of other private business schools established under
Catholic guardianship in the early 20th century, such as HEC Nord (which later became
EDHEC) by the Catholic Institute of Lille, and
ESSCA by the Catholic Institute of Angers. The establishment of the
Falloux Laws in 1854 allowed the development of
religious secondary education. Following the
Dreyfus affair (1895) and the law of
separation of church and state (1905), the
Church sought to regain influence, in particular by
disseminating its moral values in the economic sphere and by educating in the field of business. ESSEC was founded within a broader movement of Catholic higher education institutions established in France in the early 20th century. This followed legislative changes affecting religious education, especially between
Jesuits and the secular and
Republican ideology of the state. The stated aim of the new institution was to "train leaders for a commercial and economic career, which requires competent men, imbued with Christian and human values". The school was located at the École Sainte Geneviève (created by Jesuits in 1854) in the
Latin Quarter. The first class had seven students, and studies lasted two years; in 1909, an optional third year was introduced. The original course was structured around general subjects, including
law,
accounting,
languages, and techniques. With the introduction of Christian moral values, students attended a weekly
apologetics conference in the
chapel of the École Sainte Geneviève.
Scientific education (
physics,
chemistry, and factory visits) complemented
technical education (
calligraphy,
shorthand, and drafting of commercial documents). During this time, ESSEC separated from the ICP. In 1968, the latter recognized the financial and administrative independence of the school. In 1969, the ESSEC group was founded, consisting of the school, CERESSEC, a research center, and ISSEC (an institute for executives). ICP retained one-third of the seats on the board of directors, and the appointment of the school director still had to be approved by the ICP rector. Before 1971, ESSEC relied mainly on executives working in companies as its teaching staff. However, the school started to set up its permanent faculty. Grants awarded by
FNEGE to finance studies of young professors or executives in the
United States who wished to return to teaching to fill the French "management gap" allowed ESSEC to build a pool of qualified teachers. In 1972, nine out of twenty professors were former ESSECs who had completed their training in the United States. The arrival of FNEGE
Fellows, who had returned from the United States, stimulated a curriculum reform. A core curriculum was set up in the first year based on fundamentals while an
à la carte curriculum was introduced from the second year and is still in effect today. The minimum
internship length was raised to 12 months. Application numbers grew from 700 candidates in 1960 to 2,800 in 1973. The decision to move to
Cergy without the support of public funds resulted in heavy debt to the
Caisse d'Epargne, ANFESP (the National Association for the Financing of Private School Equipment), and the Council General of
Val d'Oise. This resulted in an obligation to repay up to 4-5 million
francs yearly. This payment represented 11.7% of the ESSEC budget in 1975 (compared to 5% for INSEAD). The operating budget expanded from six million francs in 1972 to twenty-eight million in 1979. At one point, tuition fees increased until they doubled those of HEC. In 1979, the
financial crisis erupted, exacerbated by an environment of high interest rates and an economic slowdown related to the oil shock, and the school hit a deficit of 10.4 million
francs that year. Funding was provided through the apprenticeship tax, the introduction of continuing education, and parent contributions. Other solutions considered included ESSEC's nationalization or joining a larger university. Dean Gilbert Olivier strongly opposed these options, seeing them as a failure of the initial project of the school to emancipate itself from the higher education system. Financial conditions ultimately improved, permitting the school to operate without taking such actions. The rescue was aided by the
Versailles Chamber of Commerce, which injected 10 million francs to cover the deficit of ESSEC, bought 51% of ESSEC's ownership for 12 million
francs and committed to pay an annual subsidy of 6 million francs from 1982 to 1989. In exchange, ESSEC retained its legal autonomy (and did not become a part of the
Paris Chamber of Commerce like
HEC Paris and
ESCP), but had a governance system with a management board and supervisory board. This intrusion of supervision and the absence of representation of the students and professors in the general assembly triggered strikes and the launching of petitions against the plan. The agreement was finally signed on 6 April 1981. The fear of control of the school and its pedagogy ultimately proved unfounded. The renaming of the Grande École program generated debate within French business education circles and among peer institutions. Following this period, ESSEC clarified its degree structure, ultimately designating the program as a Master in Management (MiM), in line with international standards.,
EM Lyon and
Université Paris-Dauphine, so much so that Ali Laïdi in his book" Secrets of the Economic War" (2004) said that HEC Paris would have mounted a destabilization operation toward ESSEC by attacking its MBA position. The case led to the opening of an investigation and resolution by the Paris Chamber of Commerce. In 2005, ESSEC expanded its campus with the inauguration of the and further, in 2007, with the multipurpose room, , which has a capacity of 2,700 people, and . The buildings were designed by Marc Seifert, son of Ivan Seifert who designed the original campus in 1973. In 2008, the library was expanded. Renovation of the restaurant area followed the following year. In March 2006, ESSEC Business School inaugurated its new campus in Singapore within the
National Library, the ESSEC Asian Center. In 2010, ESSEC presented its plan for 2010–2015. The program portfolio was repositioned: the
EPSCI (post-baccalaureate program) became the bachelor of ESSEC, and the name of MBA was abandoned and replaced with MSc in Management. The group's communication was unified under the name . A fundraising strategy of 150 million euros was announced. The school also aimed to be one of the 20 best Business Schools in the world, to join the 10 best schools in Asia and to make it into the top 5 in Europe. The decision to exclude the MBA name from its Grand Ecole program was a strategy pushback for the school. As a result, this program disappeared from the
Financial Times's rankings of both Masters in Management and MBA because of its hybrid nature. The dean of the time, Pierre Tapie, however, did not regret this decision, because he believed that the school had gained a reputation. In fact, in 2007, the
Wall Street Journal ranked ESSEC Grande École program 7th in the world, ahead of HEC and
INSEAD. During this time, the school expanded its double-degree agreements with the
Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in 2006,
Centrale Paris,
University of Keio in 2009, École du Louvre,
ENSAE and
Saint-Cyr in 2010,
ENS in 2011,
University of Queensland, three South Korean institutions in 2014 and
Bocconi University in 2015. In 2014,
Jean-Michel Blanquer, the new dean of the school, announced the plan "ESSEC 3I 2020" (Internationalisation, Innovation and Involvement). The internationalisation went through, a new ESSEC
Asia-Pacific campus was established, which opened in 2015, an ESSEC Africa campus was opened in 2017, collaboration through an alliance with
CentraleSupélec and involvement of students to create their own courses and mentorship programs, among other things. The school also launched its first
MOOCs, inaugurated its
startup incubator,
ESSEC Ventures and established an experimental research laboratory, K-Lab. == Academics ==