Due to French corporations' demand for North-American-style management education, at the end of the 1950s, the case-based method was generalized and a one-year classe préparatoire was created to prepare for the entrance examination, which had become more difficult.

Its alumnae are officially considered graduates of HEC, and include Édith Cresson, the first female Prime Minister of France.

As a consequence of the financial Big Bang and the explosion of the City, more and more graduates went to work in England and, in general, abroad.

The university campus of Jouy-en-Josas, in the Yvelines department, is located in the northern part of the technological cluster of Paris-Saclay, which brings together a quarter of French public research.

In 2016, the school adopted a new legal status and became a public-private partnership (École consulaire or EESC), largely financed by the public Chamber of Commerce in Paris.

[15] In 2017, HEC launched a portfolio of new dual degree programs called M2M with the Yale School of Management, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Fundação Getulio Vargas.

[16] The same year in March,[17] the school launched the Executive Master in innovation & entrepreneurship program in collaboration with Coursera.

[21][22] In October 2023 the school announced the creation of a Bachelor of Arts in data, society and organisations in collaboration with Bocconi University in Milan.

[63] The selection process seeks a balance between academic achievement, professional experience, international exposure, and personal motivation.

[64][65] The Executive MSc Innovation & Entrepreneurship is a program created by HEC Paris and delivered partly on Coursera.

[68] Formerly (until 2002) Centre de perfectionnement aux affaires,[69] the HEC Executive MBA is a program for top executives with a minimum of 8 years of corporate experience, which prepares them for general management positions (the average background experience of students is about 14 years).

The Executive MBA is a multi-site program offered in Paris (France), Beijing (China), St Petersburg (Russia) and Doha (Qatar).

The courses are split between theory, case studies, strategic projects, leadership training, EU community campus and foreign exchanges in the US and Asia.

[72] HEC Paris is also participating in the new wave of distance learning, by creating its own online training courses via MOOCs available on Coursera.

[85] HEC is located on a 110-hectare campus in Jouy-en-Josas, 16  km (10 miles) southwest of central Paris, close to Versailles.

[88] HEC Paris in Qatar campus is located in the “Tornado Tower” in the heart of the “West Bay” financial centre of the city of Doha.