France’s Essec Business School hopes to train ‘future-fit’ students amid geopolitical shifts, says Dean Vincenzo Vinzi

“[Globally,] “There is a sense of fragmentation,” says Vincenzo Finzi, dean of ESSEC Business School. luck.

Essec was founded in 1907 in Paris, France, originally as the Economic Institute within Saint Genevieve School. It is now a global institute of higher education with four campuses on three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.

As part of its distinguished programme, students rotate between universities in Morocco, Paris and Singapore. Finzi says this builds “multicultural” leaders, a trait he believes tomorrow’s leaders will need. “By attending classes on three continents, they are exposed to different experiences, cultures, ways of doing business, political environments and diversity as a whole,” he explains.

Traditional centers of higher education are beginning to view international students with more skepticism. The US campaign against immigration, as well as cuts in research funding and pressure on major universities, discourage students from applying to US schools. The number of new international students enrolling in the United States fell by 17% for the current academic year, according to the Institute of International Education, an American non-profit organization. Other centers of higher education, such as the UK and Australia, are also considering reducing international admissions.

This may open an opportunity for universities in other parts of the world, such as Europe or Asia.

Forty percent of Essec students are international students. Finzi says that the best nationalities represented at the school are Chinese, Indian and Moroccan students. He adds: “I believe that higher education – especially in business – has a societal role that we need to fully fulfill: which is to train the leaders of tomorrow.”

The Essec MBA program is based on four core pillars: sustainability, human-centered artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, and geopolitics. “You don’t have to be a politician to care about these issues. As a leader of a company, you have to understand the connections between geopolitics, [current affairs] “And business,” Finzi explains.

The school follows a ‘cross-cutting’ approach to the four focus areas, meaning that they are embedded within existing modules, rather than taught as separate classes. “It’s not simply about adding courses on geopolitics, artificial intelligence and sustainability, but understanding them in finance for example,” he explains.

Artificial intelligence revolution

AI is also reshaping higher education. Business schools increasingly emphasize activities that build not only technical skills but also core human competencies.

“Our pedagogical model is enriched by experiences, going beyond what is taught in the classroom,” Finzi said.

He cited the example of the school’s iMagination Week, which aims to “culturally enrich students” by taking them out of the classroom environment. This year’s edition featured paleoclimatologist Valérie Masson-Delmotte, rock climber Catherine Destivelle, and astrophysicist Fatoumata Kibbe. “Students meet people who come from many other fields, not necessarily business and management, who are a source of inspiration and stimulate their creativity,” Finzi says.

When asked about his hopes for ESSEC, Finzi said he wants the school to be forward-thinking, providing learning in specialized subjects while bridging silos between disciplines. “We have to break down the silos between academia and civil society as a whole,” he said. “I think it is very important that higher education institutions not be ivory towers.”

To achieve this, Finzi emphasizes that research must not only be rigorous, but also relevant to society.

“Ultimately, the mission of the College of Business is to make a positive impact on society – through the research of our professors, and [work of] Our graduates said.