The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) was founded in 1907 under the name of Economic Institute by Ferdinand Le Pelletier in Paris.

[10] ESSEC became the Catholic Church response to the creation of HEC in the context of struggle of religious congregations, especially between Jesuits against the secular and republican ideology of the state.

[11] The goal of the new institution was to "train leaders for a commercial and economic career, which requires competent men, imbued with Christian and human values".

With the introduction of Christian moral values students began to attend the apologetics conference every week in the chapel of the École Sainte Geneviève.

[10] With the application of the law of separation of State and Church of 1905, the school premises were confiscated in 1913, obliging ESSEC to be absorbed by Catholic Institute of Paris or ICP.

During this time, the disciplines taught, which remained the close standard until 1960, including: languages, history of trade, commercial geography, political economy, law and accounting.

In 1932, the Student Office was created and in 1937, the first scholarships were distributed, marking the start of a social assistance policy[10] The reform was done under the effort of Camille Donjon from 1939, with the introduction of selection at the school entrance.

During this time, ESSEC refused to join the unified system of écoles de commerce established by the decree of 3 December 1947 which mentioned that the State now supports the implementation of preparatory classes on the territory.

Gilbert Olivier also tried to reform the program of preparatory classes to bring them closer to commercial education but gave up due to opposition from HEC and other business schools.

The grants awarded by FNEGE to finance studies of young professors or executives in the United States, who wished to return to teaching to fill the French "management gap", allowed ESSEC to build a pool of qualified teachers.

The decision to move to Cergy without support of public funds resulted in heavy debt to the Caisse d'Epargne and ANFESP (National Association for the Financing of Private School Equipment), the Council General of Val d'Oise.

In 1979, the financial crisis erupted, exacerbated by an environment of high interest rates and an economic slowdown related to the oil shock.

[16] Gilbert Olivier strongly opposed the plan, seeing it as a failure of the initial project of the school to emancipate itself from the higher education system.

[10] In 1999, the school decided to rename Grande Ecole program as an MBA (Master of Business Administration), an Anglo-Saxon standard normally reserved for executives who already have many years of experience.

In fact, in 2007, the Wall Street Journal ranked ESSEC Grande École program 7th in the world, ahead of HEC and INSEAD.

The school also launched its first MOOCs, inaugurated its startup incubator, ESSEC Ventures and established an experimental research laboratory, K-Lab.

Grandes écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process, and a significant proportion of their graduates occupy the highest levels of French society.

[33][34] Those levels of study include various "parcours" or paths based on UE (Unités d'enseignement or Modules), each worth a defined number of European credits (ECTS).

The stakeholder involved in the research include academics, senior civil servants, elected representatives, managers and employees of businesses, trade unionists, social mediators.

Among the main lines of this project are the construction of a sports center of nearly 2,000 m2, the redevelopment of the old gymnasium and the existing administrative building into spaces intended for research activities.

Located in Nepal Hill, the campus spans five levels, 6,500 m2, can accommodate 1,500 students per year and cost 24 million euros, fully funded by ESSEC.

[81] Morocco was chosen for the already effective presence of ESSEC's partner CentraleSupélec, its proximity to France and the large number of Moroccan alumni.

[85] The undergraduate program was initially created in 1975 by ESSEC Group to prepare students to meet the needs of French firms launching operations on the international market.

The ESSEC MSc in management has been historically designed for candidates who have completed French preparatory classes after getting a high school diploma and passing a competitive entrance examination known as the concours, or have a university degree (Bachelor or Master).

[88] It is commonly considered the most prestigious path after High School in France (only 5% of a generation will be admitted to a prépa) with Law and Medicine, and consists of intensive courses in Mathematics, History and Geography, Economy, Literature, Philosophy, and two foreign languages.

In 2015, among more than 20,000 students enrolled in classe préparatoire (business section),[89] 5,614 applied to ESSEC concours (considered one of the most difficult), only 890 were invited to oral examination and 380 were eventually admitted.

These programs are specialised to allow students finishing their studies or young professionals to complete their initial training (usually scientific or engineering) by acquiring complementary knowledge.

It offers two Majors allowing students to specialise in the following areas: Luxury Brand Management, Strategy and Digital Leadership.

Building on the first established Executive MBAs in Europe by ESSEC since 1994, several modules are proposed in Mannheim, Paris, Singapore and various other locations worldwide in partner business schools.

[96] Business Politics Academics Other well-known alumni In 2020, its campus in Singapore came under intense controversy when one of its students, Louise Pizon-Hébert, made multiple posts on Instagram during Chinese New Year by making slit-eyed gestures and using the pejorative term "ching chong" as a caption while wearing the cheongsam.