INSEAD

What Is INSEAD?

One of the world's top graduate business schools, INSEAD, has campuses in France, Singapore, San Francisco, and the Middle East, along with a research center in Israel. Founded in 1957, INSEAD is an acronym for Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires.

Today, INSEAD is recognized around the world as one of the top business schools on the planet. The school has more than 165 faculty members from 41 countries, with enrollment reaching as high as 1,400 students in its various degree programs each year.  In addition, more than 11,000 executives participate in INSEAD's executive education programs each year.

History of INSEAD

INSEAD was established in 1955 when the Paris Chamber of Commerce decided to start a European business school. Two years later, it took in its first MBA students. In 1960, 52 students from 14 different countries graduated from the school's MBA program. In 1968, INSEAD began offering its executive program for the first time. The school's Ph.D. program was launched in 1989.

The school opened its Asian campus in Singapore in 2000 and its Middle East campus in Abu Dhabi in 2007. In 2006, the school opened a research center in Israel. In 2020, INSEAD announced a new hub located in San Francisco, CA to establish a North American presence.

INSEAD Campuses

The school's main campus in France is located in Fontainebleau near Paris. The second campus, located in Asia, is in Singapore in the Buona Vista district, 15 minutes from the financial district. The third campus, in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, was inaugurated in June 2010.

Programs Offered at INSEAD

INSEAD offers a variety of graduate and doctoral programs. In addition to the standard curricula offered below, the school also offers customized programs in collaboration with corporations seeking to grant executive education to their managers.

INSEAD offers a one-year, fully-accelerated term of study for an MBA with intake in September and January. Students are required to take core subjects including finance, economics, accounting, business ethics, and marketing, as well as electives from a pool of 75 different course offerings. Roughly 90% of graduates were employed in their field three months after graduation.

Global Executive MBA (GEMBA)

This program is offered at the school's three campuses for experienced executives. An intensive 14- to 17-month modular program, it includes group coaching, team activities, and 360-degree assessments. The 2020 class had 235 students, each with an average of 14 years of work experience.

Executive Masters in Change

This program spans 18 months with eight modules that last three to four days each. Students focus on human behavior and organizational dynamics. The objectives of the program include learning how to increase self-awareness, becoming an effective agent for organizational change, learning new coaching methodologies, and getting a better understanding of organizational behavior. The class of 2020 has 106 participants across the three campuses.

Executive Masters in Finance

This program is for working professionals and lasts 18 months. Intake is in the Europe and Asia campuses. The program consists of six modules that last two weeks each, taking place three to four months apart. The class of 2020 has 34 participants who had an average of ten years of work experience.

Tsinghua-INSEAD Executive MBA (TIEMBA)

This program comes as a result of a partnership between INSEAD and Tsinghua, a university-based in Beijing. Students can pursue this degree at the three INSEAD campuses or at Tsinghua.

Ph.D. in Management

The most rigorous degree offered is a five-year program that prepares students who wish to work in academia in business. The first two years are dedicated to course study, while the remaining three are intended for research and dissertation work. Intake happens in Europe or Asia, with an exchange through the Wharton School in the United States.

The program has a maximum of 18 open places each year. Collaboration is encouraged between different academic areas to offer more depth for research. Students are given lucrative financial support which includes scholarships and living allowances.

INSEAD also offers a certificate in business foundations. The INSEAD-Sorbonne Unviersité Certificate Programme is aimed at recent master and doctoral graduates who study over a four-month period.