Kedge Business School, a century-old school with an international reach

A position of excellence confirmed in the Shanghai 2021 ranking

In 2022, Kedge Business School will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the creation of the former Marseille business school by the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The merger of Sup de Co Marseille et Bordeaux in 2013 raised the profile of the management school on the international scene, with campuses in Africa and China. In 2021, Kedge Business School came in at the top of the Shanghai ranking. That makes it a major asset for companies that set up in Provence and can benefit from a deep talent pool when it comes to recruitment.

At the Luminy historic site in Marseille, the school, anchored in a green setting on the edge of the Parc des Calanques, is modernizing and expanding. An unparalleled quality of teaching to train tomorrow's leaders and managers as they hone their skills throughout their career.

"In 2021, Kedge Business School joined the collective effort to promote the region by becoming a partner in Provence Promotion's influence program. Together with the Aix-Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which founded Kedge Business School, we wanted to help broaden the region's influence. The school was founded 150 years ago to train young people to take over the reins of their family businesses and to train those with an entrepreneurial streak. Today, companies that settle in Marseille benefit from a business school that ranks second among French universities in the Shanghai 2021 ranking in the Business Administration category and eighth in Management", boasts Alexandre de Navailles, General Manager of Kedge Business School.

It is a true distinction for the institution, which resulted from the merger of two business schools and trains 14,800 students each year in France (Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulon, Paris) and abroad. In addition to its partnerships with 280 foreign universities with which it carries out student exchanges, the school of management has established itself in Dakar and Abidjan, as well as in Shanghai and Suzhou in China. "A quarter of our students and half of our faculty are foreigners. We provide 36 training options in management and design. Our 180 research professors publish their work in the best journals and are recognized worldwide", adds Alexandre de Navailles.

€34 million to expand the Luminy campus

The school's 2025 road map encompasses 26 strategic projects covering a broad scope that ranges from pure pedagogy to the student experience, including continuing education and research. "We offer training courses to bring up to speed managers who relocated to Provence", adds the manager. Kedge also offers students with an entrepreneurial bent the possibility of joining the company's accelerators and incubators, which offer around 100 slots each year to help them launch their start-ups with expert guidance.

The Luminy campus will expand in June 2021 with an additional 6,600 m2, bringing the site's surface area to 21,000 m2 in the heart of the garrigue of Provence. This expansion makes it possible to bring back the functions that had been moved to Vaufrèges. It was funded with an investment of €34 million from the Aix-Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which owns the Luminy campus of Kedge Business School.

For more HR information on Aix-Marseille, see also:
- our "Skills and Innovation" page
- our latest article on Aix-Marseille University