What is INSEAD?

Business schools have been around since the 18th century.. These schools confer degrees in business administration or management and link academics to corporate-effective curriculums. Over the last few decades, the significance of business schools and business degrees such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) has increased exponentially. Armed with management degrees from reputable business schools, students find a considerable boost in their careers and compensation prospects. Let’s take a look at one of Europe’s premier business schools and understand what INSEAD means.

INSEAD stands for Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires. It is one of the world’s top graduate business schools. Founded in 1957, the school’s primary campus was established in Fountainbleau, France.

History of INSEAD

The history of INSEAD is rich. The school was a vision of venture capitalist Georges Doriot. He wanted the business school to foster development after World War II. This vision was supported by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, whose leaders, Jean Marcou and Philippe Dennis, became the first presidents of the INSEAD business school.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th US President, commemorated INSEAD by proclaiming that the institute was destined to play a creative role in the economic affairs of Europe and the world at large.

Where is INSEAD located?

After the first INSEAD campus was established, in October 1999 the school opened another campus in Singapore. At the time, it was the first business school to have fully-fledged campuses in two different continents. By 2007, it further expanded to the Middle East and set up a campus in Abu Dhabi. In 2020, INSEAD opened its latest permanent campus in San Francisco.

Global reach of INSEAD

With over 1,300 students being trained by 165 faculty members from 41 countries, as of 2022, INSEAD truly boasts a global education. Moreover, it offers courses for working professionals and over 11,000 executives actively inculcate themselves in INSEAD’s executive education programs.

Programmes of INSEAD

The INSEAD business school offers a number of graduate and doctoral programs. Ranging from courses in business administration to PhDs in management, INSEAD has collaborated with corporate giants to provide executive education for the managerial employees. INSEAD business school offers a strong portfolio of more than 50 open programmes, covering diverse fields such as strategy, finance, digital transformation and innovation.

To keep up with the times and an acceleration of digital learning due to the pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns, INSEAD also offers a variety of online courses.

Notable alumni

INSEAD has a strong alumni network of around 62,000 former students spread across 167 countries. Some of its notable alumni include:

·   Lucy Quist – chief diversity and inclusion officer at Morgan Stanley

·   Benedikt Timmerman – chairman of HORAMA and former CEO of Genticel

·   Phillip Devine – chief financial officer at FairWarning

·   Mona Kennedy – chief financial officer at Roots

·   Harinder Takhar – First CEO of Paytm 

As of 2021 data pertaining to INSEAD’s MBA Graduates, these are some of the top companies recruiting from the business school:

·   McKinsey & Company

·   Bain & Company

·   Boston Consulting Group

·   Amazon (AMZN)

·   Accenture (ACN)