What is a business school?
A business school is a higher education institution that trains students in management, administration and business, with courses ranging from the baccalaureate to bac+5. Most often private, this type of institution nevertheless has its qualifications recognised by the State through a specific mechanism: the visa, the university grade, and listing on the National Register of Professional Certifications (RNCP).
Training in administration, not just sales
The term covers a broader discipline than sales: a business school trains students above all in the administration of an organisation, in all its dimensions. Its courses cover key functions found in any company, in France and internationally:
- management
- administration
- finance
- marketing
- human resources
The teaching at these schools is not confined to classrooms: it relies on professionalising pathways, designed to build employability from the outset of training. Internships and work-study are the pillars of this approach, to the point that some schools have been practising them for a long time: this is the case of Excelia Business School, which has offered its Master in Management (Programme Grande École) on a work-study basis since 1997. This closeness to the business world, more than an add-on, is a structural feature of the field, present from the very first years of training.
The qualifications offered by a business school, from the baccalaureate to bac+5
What is often confusing is that the term "business school" covers very different levels of study. A three-year course after the baccalaureate leads to an RNCP level 6 qualification, while a longer course leads to a level 7 qualification: two pathways, two audiences, two career projects. Several families of qualifications fall under this heading: the Bachelor, the BBA, the Master in Management (Programme Grande École) or the Master of Science (MSc) are the most common categories in France, with each institution putting together its offering in its own way. Excelia Business School's programmes, from the Bachelor to the MSc, give a concrete idea of this diversity.
What remains is finding out which one matches your project, which depends on the entry level you are aiming for, the length of study you want and the degree of specialisation you are looking for. If you are still undecided between these paths after the baccalaureate, a quick test can help you work out your profile: find out which path suits you. Cost, meanwhile, varies significantly from one institution to another and from one format to another. What a business school costs is covered in a separate answer.
How a business school is recognised
The recognition of a business school is not a matter of its status, private or public, but of three distinct markers that combine. The first is the visa, granted by the Ministry of Higher Education, which checks the academic quality of the course. The same ministry also awards the grade, which recognises the qualification at bachelor's or master's level and counts towards further study. Listing on the RNCP completes this recognition: it certifies that the skills acquired correspond to jobs identified on the labour market. The recognitions our qualifications combine are detailed on the dedicated page, as is what an RNCP certification actually is.
Two further benchmarks complete this regulatory foundation. The Excelia group holds the status of a private higher education institution of general interest (EESPIG), which commits it to a not-for-profit model, with no shareholders to pay. Excelia Business School also holds a quadruple accreditation EQUIS, AACSB, AMBA and EFMD Master, held by less than 1% of business schools worldwide, a mark of quality recognised well beyond France's borders.