Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi speaks out on the big trends impacting the Grandes Écoles. He says investment in AI will bring rewards for business school students
Vincenzo Esposito Vinzi is dean of ESSEC Business School in France. One of the Grandes Écoles—elite institutions that count many of France’s top leaders among their alumni—ESSEC is a highly-rated business school. He is several months into the top job at ESSEC. Previously, the doctor of computational statistics served as president of various top statistics groups and won teaching awards.
BusinessBecause caught up with Vincenzo to find out more about the big trends impacting business education and his school—from digital technology to global expansion.
What impact is digital technology having on the business school?
A challenge is the role of digital technology in education and in research; it’s impact on the way we teach, on the way we communicate and on the relationships we have with companies.
Digital is a tool for pedagogy. Everything is moving to a blend of digital and physical learning. Digital will have a much larger and more significant impact in the classroom. I'm quite sure that digital will never replace the human being and the professor in the classroom. But it can help the professor to be to be more effective and more efficient in the way he or she teaches. For instance VR: the idea of having digital classes that can compare to the physical campuses.
Digital can also be used to go beyond the pedagogically to provide services to students and alumni via a digital platform. You can nurture relationships with alumni and their companies, and understand their needs better if you communicate more regularly, and that can be done in digital channels.
Now there is a need to use data, for instance artificial intelligence algorithms, to help get insights from the data we collect on alumni and companies. Of course this requires investment, but I believe a top tier business school needs to consider these emerging technologies and their potential impact.
But where digital struggles is in going beyond the technical skills, where there is a need for the sharing of experience. Working tougher in groups, solving cases for which you don’t have a preconceived recipe to use to solve a problem. The collaboration between human beings, the networking, these elements will never be replaced by digital tools.
What are ESSEC’s growth opportunities?
ESSEC was founded on a pioneering spirit in 1907. What I see as an opportunity is trying to blend a little bit of our uniqueness with modern development. For instance, we have been developing our international presence, building our own campuses in Singapore and in Africa. That is quite distinctive.
We are trying to have a global strategy but also want to be able to adapt our strategy to fit the climate of the regions where we are physically present. We want to be one school, one brain, one level of quality, across four different campuses.
Another area of growth could come from China. The Chinese have started being interested by our presence in Africa. The Chinese are making a lot of investments in Africa. They're very much interested eventually in education in the country, so there is a link between our campuses across Asia. On our African campus, we already teach Chinese as a foreign language.
What are your big challenges?
The challenge is to integrate all three global campuses into the one ESSEC brand. But this is complicated because what defines an international school in our view is being locally-integrated into the continent. We need to blend a little bit the local language into our teaching across the campuses. We need to answer to local needs in order to really become integrated economic partners in the regions and have a social impact.
There are different ways of doing business in Europe compared with in Asia or in Africa. For example, there is more of a need for entrepreneurship in Africa, but the way entrepreneurship is promoted differs; different countries need companies in different domains to answer the needs of the local market. Some are linked more with social innovation, others focus on digital technology.
Student Reviews
The best intercultural university
There are more than 50 nationality in the grade, so there are opportunities to interact with people from all around the world. In terms of academics, the BBA course offers diverse courses for the 1st
Creativity, adaptability and entrepreneurship
The Master in Management program at the ESSEC Business School allows the students to choose their courses accordingly to their preferences and their professional targets. We can also go through international exchange and take part in internships with companies that are also partners with the school. The school is also next to the city of Paris.
Top business school in France
Doing PhD in essec took some time, to be precise about five years. But the experience was very good and cost effective too. There are opportunities for the student for teaching assistantship and that helps both financially and in career. In the final year I could manage to teach marketing to M1 students and this helped shape my career
Great college
The program is well suited for early professionals with an engineering degree preferably or a degree in economics. I would suggest taking the ceasure irrespective of the experience level as it helps you take your time to adjust to the job market.
Good school in France
I am currently enrolled in M2 in Essec business school. I am specialising in marketing management. The Grande Ecole programme is valued in France and my school ranks very high up. There are a lot of opportunities for internships and CDD.
The program curriculum
BBA program. The program is really practical and useful, provide us many international opportunities. Like internship and humanitarian experience, and the flexibility is also really cool, we can choose different campus and tracks as we want.
International Course
This school is very international and business oriented. Highly recognized by the companies The campus has been renovated and is very functional and modern from now on. Excellent atmosphere. Reputation of essec is a plus
Friends, Career opportunities.
The program I did gave me the opportunity to start in Singapore. I got the chance to know all the students that started there and we bonded and made some friends for life. The career opportunities that ESSEC also gave me were unbelievable.
Practical and useful
I think the best thing about Essec is that it's not focusing on academics rather it emphasizes on future job mindset and professional experiences..
The classes are interesting and we have plenty of workshops attributing to different sectors..
The campus is very nice with a good cafe and wonderful library.
The only problem is the location of the campus. It's quite far from Paris.
Amazing experience! Must try
I think its a very amazing school with great and experienced faculty. Also the alumni network is very solid and useful. The school has a great balance of studies and work experience which is really essential for a student.
GBBA: Diverse, Enriching, and Career-Boosting
My experience at ESSEC Business School has been outstanding. The Global BBA program offers a rich academic curriculum and diverse learning opportunities. I appreciated the chance to study on different campuses, including an international exchange, which broadened my perspective. The social environment is culturally diverse and vibrant, enhancing both my personal and professional growth. The administration is attentive, constantly offering new academic and student life opportunities. The campus facilities and classrooms are excellent. I highly recommend ESSEC for its excellence, global exposure, and career opportunities.
ESSEC BS BBA REVIEW
The English track BBA program at ESSEC is simply exceptional. Courses are taught by internationally renowned professors who are experts in their field. The subjects taught cover a wide range of disciplines from marketing to finance, strategy and entrepreneurship. The English track is a major asset because it allows you to develop perfect mastery of professional English, essential in today's globalized business world. Some students love student life at Essec, which is one of the best in France, but it all depends on taste.
Great program, incredible school
I love almost everything about this school, from the student life to the academic program and the opportunities it provides.
I'm currently at the Paris campus, in Cergy, and I'm really enjoying it.
The BBA program is very rich and diversified, you can start with geopolitics and then finance, what I mean is that there's a great balance between the subjects in this program.
I was also lucky enough to spend a semester at the Singapore campus, and I loved that experience on the other side of the world.
ESSEC is also known for its dynamic and rich student life, with access to several parties a week and the various associations within the school.
If I could recommend just one school, it would be this one - I'm 100% satisfied.
Great experience
First of all, what I appreciate the most is the academic environment. The courses are extremely stimulating and are taught by high-level professors, often experts in their field. The diversity of subjects offered, ranging from marketing to finance, including entrepreneurship, allows you to acquire a complete and versatile education. The group projects, although sometimes stressful, are also an opportunity to learn to work in a team, which is essential in the professional world. One area that I feel could be improved is the management of student events. Although many activities are organized, I have noticed that some events can lack organization or communication, which can frustrate those who want to get involved. Better coordination between the different student associations and the administration could really improve the overall experience.
