The school was established in Paris on 1 December 1819 by two former Napoleonic soldiers, Germain Legret and Amédée Brodart. Germain Legret had founded two business schools in Paris in 1815 and 1818, but both closed their doors rapidly. It was modelled on the first grande école, the École Polytechnique, founded by Lazare Carnot and Gaspard Monge, but was initially more modest, in large part because it had not been supported by the state. The school had gained international exposure since the 1820s, but it was not the only business school open to international students. Its stature and importance ascended during the 19th century and it moved to its current Parisian location on the Avenue de la République in 1898.

In 1828, the project to put the school under the authority of the French Ministry of Commerce and Industry failed. The school remained independent by the intervention of Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui, who took it over. Several times during the first half of the 19th century, French political developments resulted in plans to group ESCP with elite French engineering schools such as the École Polytechnique or the École Centrale Paris, but this ultimately did not happen. It is worth mentioning that at the time, engineering schools in France and in Europe taught future businessmen. From 1838, the French state began to fund scholarships meant for ESCP's students.

In 1869, the Paris Chamber of Commerce took over the school, aiming to train future business leaders in modern methods in commerce and industry. In 1892, ESCP set up selective admissions processes, which continued to be retained and, today, take the form of competitive exams.

On 5 April 1973, the concept of a multi-campus business school was created, with consecutive inaugurations of campuses taking place in the United Kingdom (London in 1974, move to Oxford in 1975) and in Germany (Düsseldorf in 1975, move to Berlin in 1985). In 1974 the ESCP developed courses in entrepreneurship in response to internal and external forces. Since then, the school has deepened its European presence to become an integrated pan-European business school:^[6] In 2018, ESCP became an École consulaire, largely financed by the public Chambers of Commerce in Paris, Berlin, and Turin.^[2]

• In 1985, the School's campus in Germany moved from Düsseldorf to Berlin at the invitation of the Government of Berlin.
• In 1988, a fourth campus was opened in Madrid.
• In 1999, ESCP merged with its sister school EAP.
• In 2001, the Master in Management programme taught at ESCP became validated by City University London.
• In 2004, a fifth campus in Turin was founded, whose courses became validated by the University of Turin; Master in Management students can obtain the Italian degree of Laurea Magistrale.
• In 2005, ESCP inaugurated its London campus, having moved from Oxford.
• In 2007, the Master in Management programme was recognised by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; students can obtain the Spanish degree of Master Europeo en Administración y Dirección de Empresas.
• In 2015, ESCP established its sixth European campus with its partner Kozminski University in Poland.
• In 2016, the School decides to strengthen its footprint in Paris by adding a second campus located in the Montparnasse area after buying back Novancia Business School's building. The campus is dedicated to executive programs.
• In 2019, the School removed “Europe” from its name, reverting to its original name.^[7]

ESCP Business School is a grande école, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. Grandes écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process, and a significant proportion of their graduates occupy the highest levels of French society.^[8][9][10] Similar to Ivy League universities in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and the C9 League in China, graduation from a grande école is considered the prerequisite credential for any top government, administrative and corporate position in France.^[11][12]

The degrees are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles^[13] and awarded by the French Ministry of National Education.^[14] Higher education business degrees in France are organized into three levels thus facilitating international mobility: the Licence, or Bachelor's degrees, and the Master's and Doctoral degrees. The Bachelors and the Masters are organized in semesters: 6 for the Bachelors and 4 for the Masters.^[15][16] Those levels of study include various "parcours" or paths based on UE (Unités d'enseignement or Modules), each worth a defined number of European credits (ECTS). A student accumulates those credits, which are generally transferable between paths. A Bachelors is awarded once 180 ECTS have been obtained (bac + 3); a Masters is awarded once 120 additional credits have been obtained (bac +5). The highly coveted PGE (Programme Grand École) ends with the degree of Master in Management (MiM).^[15][16][17]

In 2017, ESCP decided to launch its MBA in International Management. To this end, it first rebranded its Master in European Management, and then completely revolutionised the curriculum of its MBA in 2023. In its new configuration, candidates can study both full-time and part-time for a period ranging from 10 to 34 months. During this period, all the typical subjects of a general management MBA are covered. The course is structured through core modules and a specialization, for a total of around 500 teaching hours.

The core modules are taught in Paris, Berlin, London or online. They are followed by a specialisation taking place in Madrid, Turin or online.

The MBA’s specialisations are in consulting, entrepreneurship, luxury, and fintech & innovation.

The ESCP MBA is currently ranked 26th by the 2024 QS Global MBA Ranking and 25th by the 2024 Global MBA Financial Times Ranking.

^[28]

ESCP students can study on campuses in France (Paris), the UK (London), Spain (Madrid), Germany (Berlin), Italy (Turin), and Poland (Warsaw).^[29] They can spend either 6 months or 1 year on each campus according to their study choices. Each campus has its own specifics and develops programs with local academic institutions. For instance, in Spain, ESCP provides a Master in Business Project Management co-delivered with the Technical University of Madrid and in Italy, a double-degree program is available for engineers together with the Polytechnic University of Turin.^[30]

Since 2017, ESCP has had two campuses in Paris, one near the Place de la République (in the 11th arrondissement of Paris) and another one near the Montparnasse Tower (in the 15th arrondissement of Paris). Each campus is dedicated to a specific range of programs. The campus in the 11th arrondissement hosts all the graduate programs whereas the campus in the 15th arrondissement hosts the undergraduate education, the executive education and the school's start-up Incubator, the Blue Factory. This organization is unique to Paris; on every other campus, undergraduate, graduate and executive programmes are dispensed in the same campus.

ESCP has over 100 partner grandes écoles and universities worldwide, several offering dual degrees.^[31]

• Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris
• HEC Paris
• ESSEC Business School

• Official website

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