# INSEAD

INSEAD (/ɪnsiːæd/ IN-see-ad; French: Institut européen d'administration des affaires) is a non-profit business school with locations in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE) and North America (San Francisco, USA).
As a graduate-only business school, INSEAD offers a full-time Master of Business Administration, an Executive MBA (EMBA), an Executive Master in Finance, a Master in Management, an Executive Master in Change, a PhD in management, a Business Foundations post-graduate certificate and a variety of Executive education programmes.

## History

INSEAD was founded in 1957 by venture capitalist Georges Doriot, Claude Janssen, and Olivier Giscard d'Estaing. Original seed money was provided by the Paris Chamber of Commerce. The school was originally based in the Château de Fontainebleau before locating to its current Europe Campus in 1967. The original name of the school was "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires’ which was later shortened to INSEAD.
In 2000, the school opened a second campus in Singapore, and in 2007, it established a Centre in Abu Dhabi primarily for research and executive education, which later achieved campus status in 2010. In 2020, INSEAD opened the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation.
In 2012, INSEAD joined the Sorbonne University Alliance as a founding member, collaborating with other specialized institutions to contribute to the development of a leading multidisciplinary university.

## Campuses

INSEAD’s founding campus (the Europe Campus) is located in Fontainebleau, near Paris, France. The second campus (the Asia Campus) is in the one-north district of Singapore next to one-north MRT station and the third campus (the Middle East Campus) is located in Abu Dhabi. INSEAD expanded its presence to North America in 2020 with the opening of the INSEAD San Francisco Hub for Business Innovation.

## Grande école system

INSEAD is a grande école, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of the French public university system. Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and the C9 League in China, grandes écoles are academic institutions that admit students through a competitive process.

## Academics
### Master programmes
#### Master in Management

Launched in May 2019, the INSEAD Master in Management (MIM) is a 14 to 16-month full-time programme for young graduates starting their careers in management. The average age of students on the INSEAD is MIM is 23.

#### MBA

The INSEAD MBA programme welcomes approximately 1,000 participants every year who spend time between the INSEAD Europe and Asia Campuses. The INSEAD MBA lasts 10 months, with two cohorts joining per year, in September and January. The average age of students on the programme is 29 and a typical class has around 110 nationalities.

#### Global Executive MBA (GEMBA)

INSEAD runs a modular Global Executive MBA programme for over 200 participants every year across its Asia, Europe and Middle East campuses. INSEAD also offers the Tsinghua-INSEAD EMBA (TIEMBA) programme which takes in around 40 participants per year. In November 2024, INSEAD announced the launch of a new GEMBA Flex programme.

#### Executive Master in Finance

Taught over six modules (five modules on the INSEAD Asia Campus and one module on the INSEAD Europe Campus), the 18-month INSEAD Executive Master in Finance programme draws over 30 participants for every cohort.

#### Executive Master in Change

The INSEAD Executive Master in Change degree programme spans over 18 months and eight modules of three to four days. Each intake – whether on the Asia or Europe Campus – typically welcomes more than 100 participants.

### Executive Education

INSEAD Executive Education incorporates over 60 Open Programmes, 15 Open Online Programmes and a portfolio of over 200 Customised Programmes. These programmes are attended by more than 10,000 participants from over 3,800 companies every year.

### PhD

The INSEAD PhD programme contributes to the school’s research and currently has 86 participants on its Europe and Asia Campuses. To date, over 278 students have graduated from the programme.

## Rankings and reputation

QS World Universities Rankings has been ranking INSEAD #2 globally in the Subject Ranking for Business and Management since 2018, behind Harvard University.

## Alumni

The INSEAD alumni community consists of 68,861 individuals across 179 countries with 171 nationalities.

## Partnerships and alliances

INSEAD is in alliance with several academic and business partners.