INSEAD ( ; French: ''Institut européen d'administration des affaires'') is a non-profit

business school A business school is a higher education institution or professional school that teaches courses leading to degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, s ...

with locations in Europe (

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), Asia (

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

), the Middle East (

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

) and North America (

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

). As a graduate-only business school, INSEAD offers a full-time

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

, an

Executive MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

(EMBA), an Executive Master in Finance, a

Master in Management The Master of Management (MM, MiM, MMgt) is a master's degree comprising one or two years graduate level coursework in business management. In terms of content, it is similar to the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree as it contain ...

, an Executive Master in Change, a

PhD in management PhD (Doctor Of Philosophy) in management is one of the highest academic degrees awarded in the study of management science. The degree was designed for those seeking academic research and teaching careers as faculty or professors in the study of ma ...

, a Business Foundations post-graduate certificate and a variety of

Executive education Executive education (ExEd or Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools for executives, business leaders and managers, globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometimes lead to ...

programmes.

History

INSEAD was founded in 1957 by venture capitalist 

Georges Doriot Georges Frédéric Doriot (September 24, 1899 – June 2, 1987) was a French-American known for his prolific careers in military, academics, business and education. An émigré from France, Doriot became a professor of Industrial Management at H ...

, Claude Janssen, and 

Olivier Giscard d'Estaing Olivier Giscard d'Estaing (30 December 1927 – 13 September 2021) was chairman of the Committee for a World Parliament. The brother of French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (1926–2020), he was the founding dean and director general of ...

. Original seed money was provided by the 

Paris Chamber of Commerce The Paris Chamber of Commerce ( or ''CCIP'') is a chamber of commerce of the Paris region. It defends the interests of companies of the city of Paris, and provides services to these companies. Since 2013 it has been a division of the Paris Île ...

. The school was originally based in the 

Château de Fontainebleau Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the French monarchs, includ ...

before locating to its current Europe Campus in 1967. The original name of the school was "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires’ which was later shortened to INSEAD. In 2000, the school opened a second campus in Singapore, and in 2007, it established a Centre in Abu Dhabi primarily for research and executive education, which later achieved campus status in 2010. In 2020, INSEAD opened the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation. In 2012, INSEAD joined the Sorbonne University Alliance as a founding member, collaborating with other specialized institutions to contribute to the development of a leading multidisciplinary university.

Campuses

INSEAD's founding campus (the Europe Campus) is located in 

, near 

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The second campus (the Asia Campus) is in the 

one-north one-north is a subzone of Queenstown, Singapore, Queenstown, Singapore, first developed by JTC Corporation as the country's research and development and high technology cluster. It was first conceptualised in 1991 as part of the National Tech ...

 district of

 next to  one-north MRT station and the third campus (the Middle East Campus) is located in 

. INSEAD expanded its presence to North America in 2020 with the opening of the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation.

Grande école system

INSEAD is a

grande école A (; ) is a specialized top-level educational institution in France and some other countries such as Morocco and Tunisia. are part of an alternative educational system that operates alongside the mainstream List of public universities in Franc ...

, a French institution of

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

that is separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of the French public university system. Similar to the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

in the United States,

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford, Universities of Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collect ...

in the UK, and the

C9 League The C9 League is an inter-university seminar composed of nine public universities in China. It was established on May 4, 1998, at the 100th anniversary of Peking University. These elite universities are associated with academic excellence and ...

in China, ''grandes écoles'' are academic institutions that admit students through a competitive process.

Academics

Master programmes

Master in Management

Launched in May 2019, the INSEAD

(MIM) is a 14 to 16-month full-time programme for young graduates starting their careers in management. The average age of students on the INSEAD is MIM is 23.

MBA

The INSEAD

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

programme welcomes approximately 1,000 participants every year who spend time between the INSEAD Europe and Asia Campuses. The INSEAD MBA lasts 10 months, with two cohorts joining per year, in September and January. The average age of students on the programme is 29 and a typical class has around 110 nationalities.

Global Executive MBA (GEMBA)

INSEAD runs a modular Global Executive MBA programme for over 200 participants every year across its Asia, Europe and Middle East campuses. INSEAD also offers the Tsinghua-INSEAD EMBA (TIEMBA) programme which takes in around 40 participants per year. In November 2024, INSEAD announced the launch of a new GEMBA Flex programme.

Executive Master in Finance

Taught over six modules (five modules on the INSEAD Asia Campus and one module on the INSEAD Europe Campus), the 18-month INSEAD Executive Master in Finance programme draws over 30 participants for every cohort.

Executive Master in Change

The INSEAD Executive Master in Change degree programme spans over 18 months and eight modules of three to four days. Each intake – whether on the Asia or Europe Campus – typically welcomes more than 100 participants. The programme is accredited Mastère Spécialisé by CGE, Conférence des Grandes Ecoles.

Executive Education

INSEAD

Executive Education Executive education (ExEd or Exec. Ed) refers to academic programs at graduate-level business schools for executives, business leaders and managers, globally. These programs are generally non-credit and non-degree-granting, but sometimes lead to ...

incorporates over 60 Open Programmes, 15 Open Online Programmes and a portfolio of over 200 Customised Programmes. These programmes are attended by more than 10,000 participants from over 3,800 companies every year.

PhD

The INSEAD

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

programme contributes to the school's research and currently has 86 participants on its Europe and Asia Campuses. To date, over 278 students have graduated from the programme.

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 Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

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.

References

External links

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Student and Alumni Reviews about INSEAD MBA Program
{{DEFAULTSORT:Insead Business schools in France Business schools in Singapore Universities and colleges established in 1957 Fontainebleau 1957 establishments in France