3 Years, 3 Countries, 1 ‘Signature Experience’: Inside ESCP’s Pioneering Bachelor Business Degree

Mariaelena Arnedo has always felt like a citizen of the world. Her father was born in Canada, raised in Spain’s Basque Country, and moved to Miami, Florida in his early 20s. Her mother was raised in Turin, Italy, and also moved to the U.S. “for a job opportunity and love,” Arnedo says.

Arnedo herself was born in Boulder, Colorado, and split her childhood between the U.S. and Turin. When it was time to apply to college, she looked at France’s ESCP Business School, B-school with a unique value proposition: Earn a Bachelor in Management in three years while living in three different European countries.

“I was confused about what my future and academic interests looked like at the time,” Arnedo tells Poets&Quants. “ESCP seemed fit for dipping my toes into different waters to further understand where my career would take me.”

Now a second-year student, Arnedo has already lived in several European cities, enmeshed herself in new cultures, and gained hands-on professional experience along the way. It’s an experience that defines ESCP’s Bachelor in Management (BSc) which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and is becoming the school’s second flagship program alongside its prestigious Master in Management (MIM).

This three-country rotation model is one of the program’s biggest draws. Bachelor students from around the world study together at three of ESCP’s five campuses, each located in a different European city: Paris, Berlin, London, Madrid, and Turin. Students complete a rigorous business curriculum blended with liberal arts and hands-on experience. Though courses are mostly taught in English, students take language courses in the countries they are studying in.

“What truly sets ESCP apart is its ability to foster a tight-knit community despite the constant movement. The shared experiences of navigating new cities, adapting to local customs, and tackling academic challenges together creates a unique bond among students,” Arnedo says.

“This dynamic environment of collaboration and camaraderie is something I believe is a ‘signature ESCP experience’ – a blend of personal and professional growth that you simply cannot replicate elsewhere.”

10 YEARS OF ESCP’S PIONEERING BSc

ESCP is one of France’s grande école business schools, an elite category of French universities known for their high selectivity, subject area expertise, and pathways to top-level careers. It also claims to be the oldest business school in the world—a title also contested by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Even still, ESCP’s bachelor in management is still quite young. While in the United States undergraduate business degrees are common, Europe has traditionally favored the specialized master’s degree for business education.

ESCP launched its Bachelor in Management with just 47 students in 2015. Today, it enrolls nearly 3,000 students from more than 100 nationalities, making it one of Europe’s most internationally immersive undergraduate business programs. Since 2022, it has been ranked No. 1 in France by various outlets. Students earn a degree issued by the French Ministry as well as up to two additional degrees issued by the UK and German governments, depending on where they study.

“It’s not just a matter of growing managers, it’s a matter of nurturing the leaders of the future. “A leader must care about multiculturalism and multilingual communication,” says Fabrizio Granà, associate dean of ESCP’s Bachelor in Management.

“We currently have students from 109 nationalities. When I start induction week with my students in Paris or Turin, I always tell them: ‘Here, you have the opportunity to learn from your peers and to navigate the needs of the different people you will meet throughout this journey. It’s about respect for multiculturalism and interculturalism. You need to understand these different needs while also meeting deadlines – both as part of the university community and later in a multinational company.”

While the degree is rooted in business education – it is a business degree after all – ESCP takes a liberal arts-inspired approach, integrating courses in behavioral economics, psychology, law, and intercultural communication. Critical topics like sustainability and AI are embedded in core courses, and in October, ESCP announced a partnership with OpenAI/ChatGPT Edu. The school is currently training 1,000 champions to use Gen AI to enhance the learning experience and contribute to AI projects. Its proof-of-concept phase has resulted in 80 projects to date, submitted by students, staff, and professors to develop AI applications tailored to the ESCP ecosystem.

HANDS-ON, MULTIDISCIPLINARY EXPERIENCE

Designed to help students build international careers, ESCP’s 3-year bachelor in management emphasizes experiential learning through real-world case studies, company projects, and mandatory internships. By the time they graduate, students have at least two professional internships under their belt, often more.

From the first year, students gain real-world experience through consulting projects, and immersive career development opportunities – a structure that sets ESCP apart from many traditional undergraduate business programs. Students may start internships Year 1, though it’s not mandatory.

In Year 2, students complete a four-month internship as well as complete their Collective Project, a hallmark of ESCP’s experiential learning approach. Small student teams work directly with local businesses, often acting as consultants, integrating business theory with practice while developing soft skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.

“We want them to get in practice with the reality where they live,” Granà says. “Even though there has been a demand from multinational companies, the purpose of the Collective Project is to have an impact in the community where the Bachelor operates.”

Through this initiative, ESCP students have worked on strategic projects for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Turin, Madrid, and other host cities, helping them develop marketing strategies, business models, and operational improvements.

“In Turin and Madrid, for instance, we have over 60 groups in each campus, so around 100 groups practicing with more than 100 companies,” Granà says. “Each group applies their knowledge, trying to meet the deadlines set by local businesses.”

By Year 3, students are expected to take on longer internships and in-depth industry experiences. They can also major in specialized tracks including luxury, investment banking, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and consulting.

A GLOBAL NETWORK FROM 193 COUNTRIES

This hands-on approach leads directly to post-graduate opportunities. Some 98% of graduates find a job or enroll in a master’s program within three months of graduation. Employers include companies such asJP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg, Amazon, Porsche, Procter & Gamble, L’Oréal, and Nestlé.

Nearly 48% of ESCP BSc grads begin professional careers immediately after graduation, while about 47% choose to continue their studies in leading academic institutions around the world. Today, ESCP has 150 academic partners across 50 countries including Columbia University, NYU, Duke, MIT, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

“The good thing about ESCP is that graduates are not confined to a specific nation or market,” Granà says. “Thanks to our dual-degree approach, students get recognized for their degree in many countries in Europe. But many of them also move to the U.S., Canada, or Asia after graduation.”
ESCP’s 85,000-strong alumni network from 1983 countries plays a key role in career development long after graduation. Alumni frequently return to campus to mentor students, deliver guest lectures, and even recruit students for internships and full-time jobs. Starting in September, all ESCP graduates will automatically become members of this dynamic network.

“We have a continuous exchange with our alumni network,” Granà says. “From Induction Week, students connect with alumni in different industries and countries, so they have a point of reference in every place ESCP operates.”

3 COUNTRIES, 3 CITIES, 3 LANGUAGES

As a Class of 2019 alum, Julia Vetter was among the second cohort of about 100 students to graduate from ESCP’s still-young bachelor’s program. She now works as a senior consultant at Value For Good in Berlin, working mostly with the Gates Foundation. Previously, she consulted with both Accenture and Boston Consulting Group, and earned a master’s in international development at University of St. Andrew’s in Scotland.
Vetter was born in Germany, but grew up in the United States. She learned about ESCP’s new BSc by looking up “the most international Bachelor program there is.”

“I figured the kind of people who would want to live in three cities and three countries and learn three languages across three years would be the kind of people I would want to associate myself with,” she tells P&Q.

“That and the liberal arts components that I think allow for a very well-rounded education especially at that age … Being able to take rhetoric classes and public speaking and intercultural skills, being able to talk about languages and psychology, business psychology, or behavioral economics – bringing in these really more liberal arts elements to the classroom are what make that specific management program so different.”

Vetter spent her three academic years in London, Turin and Berlin. It’s enough time to immerse in a city, she says, while having to adapt to the local pace, culture, and norms. On the weekends, she and her friends – classmates from countries around the world – traveled to Rome, Finland, Spain and Portugal.

“It was just this adventure, this sense of freedom that comes with being at ESCP. And that was wonderful,” she says. “And we were looking to grow, looking to explore the world … My classmates have all gone on to do amazing things in the most diverse range of industries. It’s really cool to see that development.”

WHY SHOULD AN AMERICAN CONSIDER ESCP?

ESCP Business School is making a €320 million investment to transform its campuses into state-of-the-art learning environments to accommodate a student population expected to grow to 12,500 by 2030 – with much of the growth expected to come from Bachelor in Management. The most significant investment – €150 million– is earmarked for the historic Paris République campus, modernizing it into an iconic business school of the future while maintaining its rich heritage.

For prospective business students in the United States, there are literally thousands of programs to choose from. Poets&Quants ranks the top 100 or so, as you can see here. For motivated and adventurous business majors, there’s a couple of reasons to give ESCP a look.

First, there’s the price tag. Of the 91 undergraduate business programs P&Q ranked for 2024, 32 have 4-year tuition and fees that add up to $200,000 or more. ESCP’s annual tuition is just under €24,900 (about $26,000). At three years to degree, students should expect to pay about €75,000 ($78,000). That’s less than half of the big brand U.S. schools at the top of our ranking.

“You don’t have to pay insane tuition fees to have an excellent level of education,” Vetter says.

“ESCP is the oldest business school in the world – we have so many foundational elements that I think are so relevant for that age. I think having a tailored program that goes beyond just the theories of a textbook and that really is more about adaptability and approachability and applying what you learned to the real world, is what makes it so impactful. And it’s all in English, so why would you not want to come?”

Arnedo agrees. She strongly recommends the program to other American business majors.

“It offers vast opportunities to study abroad in a welcoming and supportive community. While they may face some culture shock, this challenge is an integral part of the journey, fostering personal growth and adaptability,” she tells P&Q.

“Additionally, it significantly enhances a CV, differentiating graduates from their peers by showcasing their ability to thrive in diverse, multicultural environments and adapt to global business challenges.”

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