Founded in 1964 and a Grand Ecole since 1997, IESEG is a private school in Lille, close to the Franco-Belgian border. It is part of the Universite Catholique de Lille, enjoying academic and business autonomy, but sharing resources.
To an even greater extent than other French schools, it emphasises responsibility as a priority, summing up its values with the acronym ARISE :”Accomplishment, Responsibility, Intergrity, Solidarity, Engagement”.
Second year undergraduates are expected to undertake a "solidarity group project", of a humanitarian or charitable nature in teams of 6 to 12, while the third year includes a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) consulting element. The aim is for 80 per cent of courses to have a CSR element by 2021.
IESEG’s declared target for 2025 is to be "a unique international hub empowering change-makers for a better society". This implies a continuation of the striking growth seen since 2004, when there were around 1,000 students.
IESEG now has more than five times that number, a new outpost at La Defense in Paris and attained triple accreditation between 2012 and 2016. It offers nine specialised masters’ programmes, almost all of them launched between 2013 and 2015, and research centres focussed on Negotiation, Market Analytics, Organisational Responsibility and Intercultural Engagement.
A strongly international character is reflected in partnerships with more than 250 universities. This enables study abroad for more than 20 per cent of students and internships for not far short of a quarter. There are six double degrees taught and awarded jointly with universities in Francophone Africa.
