French schools abroad
Les universités françaises se déploient hors de l’Hexagone

From the Sorbonne to ESCP Europe and Vatel Business School, many French universities and "grandes écoles" are now betting on exporting their trainings internationally. This strategic deployment allow their image to gain more visibility globally and to improve their role as competitor on the market of trainings. It also allows to offer excellent trainings, customized to the needs of the host country. A report published in February 2016 by Campus France describes the situation.

Three opportunities for international deployment

The study defines three opportunities for international deployment. A higher education institution can first offer its students the opportunity to study on several campuses, including out of France. This is the case of Kedge Business School, which opened two campuses in Dakar and Suzhou, nearby Shanghai, and the ESCP Europe which owns five offices in Europe, from London and Warsaw to Madrid, Turin and Berlin. Those are multisite institutions.

An institution of international reputation may also open a franchise internationally. The new school will bear the same name, offer the same teachings, but will be autonomous. This is the case of HEC Paris in Qatar, Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi or cooking school Le Cordon Bleu throughout the world. Those are offshore institutions.

Finally, an institution may be created from scratch abroad following a bilateral agreement between governments or higher education institutions. This is the case of the Galatasaray University in Istanbul or the French Higher education college of Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

The best: businessmen, engineers and cooks

The Campus France report identifies three major groups among the French institutions that are best exported. The first group gathers Business Schools. "The international development has become an essential aspect to ensure the employability of our students" said director of the ESSCA Catherine Leblanc in 2014 in the newspaper Le Figaro.

The next group is engineering schools. They match the demand in young people trained the French way from industrial players present in developing countries. Their students are as much qualified as French engineers and make up for a perfect staff for the energy, cars manufacturing and construction industries.

Due to cultural aspects, Hotel Schools have a major influence in the global deployment of French higher education excellence. With 19 campuses including four in Australia, Le Cordon Bleu Paris is the sole French institution present in every continent. Vatel Business School is the first international group in hotel and tourism management industry and accounts for a strong network of 31 campuses globally.