Learning Experience

The HEC MBA Program takes an experiential, multidisciplinary approach to management education. The learning process relies on the case method and a wide variety of team-based teaching tools. The HEC approach focuses on problem solving, effective communication, and leadership development.

Teamwork and Multicultural Experience

When they arrive at HEC, MBA participants are divided into work groups that contain four-to-five participants and favor maximum diversity in terms of national origin, academic background, and professional experience. This process enables each participant to maximize his or her cultural sensitivity and understanding. Work groups are given case studies that reflect real business situations, but often with missing and or conflicting information. The case resolution entails finding possible integrated solutions to business problems. In analyzing complex, uncertain situations where there is no single “black and white” solution, participants learn to overcome the potential hurdles of cultural diversity and language differences  in order to develop different approaches to problem solving. This learning experience prepares participants to become effective leaders in the international business environment.

Language Skills

Language expresses and transmits culture. Language learning implies exposure to different cultures, and linguistic understanding enables participants to adapt to a wide range of international business situations. Training executives to assume leadership positions in international business requires building language competencies, and this process is one of the cornerstones of the HEC MBA Program.

In our multicultural environment, participants are encouraged and expected to learn French as a second or third language. In fact, unless you are a native French speaker or already bilingual in French, French is compulsory for all participants during the first four months of the program. Moreover, French is offered to participants at all levels of competency in the language throughout the 16-month program. If you are a native French speaker or already bilingual in French, you'll have to learn another language unless you are already trilingual.

French language training is a key component of the HEC MBA curriculum that allows participants to develop, reinforce, and consolidate their communication skills for use in francophone countries. This approach enables them to meet the demands of life and work in France. Participants also broaden their knowledge of French culture and current affairs. Our integrated approach to language teaching provides each participant with a methodological framework that equips him or her to become an autonomous learner and user of the French language.

Ideal Program Length

The program length allows for a thorough investigation of the core business disciplines, while providing the flexibility of a two-year program and ensuring a return to employment in a short period of time. The MBA period allows participants to step back from their career, develop new skills, discover new interests, and optimize their potential for effective decision making.

The duration of the program also allows participants to personalize their curriculum. During the second half of the program, participants have the opportunity to choose from over 80 electives and tailor their program by choosing among the following specialized tracks: Entrepreneurship, Finance, Marketing, and Strategy. Participants may also gain corporate exposure by completing a Company Consulting Project, an Independent Professional Project, or a Mission and Action Project, or they may opt to participate in an international exchange or double-degree program.

Ideal Class Size

The average class size is about 200 participants per year, divided between the September and the January intakes. This class size is large enough to allow the diversity of student population to thrive, which maximizes both student-faculty and cross-student interactions.