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Presentation of the IAE

Main building of the IAE

THE FIRST INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (IAE) IN FRANCE

IAE Aix-Marseille was founded in 1955 based on the model of American business schools attached to major universities. Our ability to innovate is anchored in that history, which is notable for the pioneering development of numerous educational innovations.

IAE Aix-Marseille stands out today through two strategic axes defining its pedagogy, research, and relationships: the I3 Lab and the “humanistic leadership” project.

IAE Aix-Marseille operates somewhere between private management schools and public universities. This positioning allows us to combine the dynamism and flexibility of a school closely linked to the business world with the values of public services, educational excellence, and research. As the business school of Aix-Marseille University (AMU), IAE Aix-Marseille fits perfectly into the university’s strategy of academic excellence, internationalization, and professional development.

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Welcome to IAE Aix-Marseille Graduate School of Management, the business school of Aix-Marseille University, the world’s largest French-speaking university. Choosing to study at IAE Aix-Marseille is a decision to pursue excellence, diversity, and internationalism.

Excellence is demonstrated by accreditation (EQUIS) and rankings (Financial Times, SMBG, and others) attesting to the quality of our training.

Diversity is reflected in our programs being open to atypical profiles, dual skills, sandwich courses, and continuing education.

The international dimension is represented on our campus by people of 50 nationalities, including international students, guests, teachers, and speakers from across the business world, and by programs taught entirely in English.

Key figures:

  • Nearly 50% of our students pursue their studies as apprentices;
  • About 25% of our students are international, and 50 nationalities are represented on campus;
  • 310 international academics and professionals work at the school;
  • IAE Aix-Marseille is home to CERGAM, the leading management research center in France in terms of the number of theses defended every year;
  • 94% of our graduates are hired within three months following their graduation.

IAE Aix-Marseille is a cosmopolitan environment, with diverse cultural and scientific influences, where students are encouraged to exercise their creativity and develop new projects in line with our values of humanism, responsibility, and the common good.

Join our teams and live our motto: “empowering humanistic leadership.”

Antonin Ricard, Dean of IAE Aix-Marseille

Our mission

Is to transform participants into empowered humanistic leaders, able to steer their lives and careers throughout transitions, and to reconcile the different sources of value for humans, organisations and nature.

This mission is embedded in the mission of AMU: creating and disseminating knowledge through research and teaching as expressed in its baseline: “Socially Engaged”.

The School aims to help individuals empower their lives by enhancing their potential, and daring to innovate and exert a positive impact on society. The School's mission contributes to democratizing management education in order to make it accessible to all. The slogan of the mission is “Empowering Humanistic Leadership”. This mission statement entails:

  • Empowering participants by strengthening their self-determination, by changing their self-perception, and their way of looking at the future;
  • Developing humanistic leaders by instilling a sense of ecology, civic duty, and ethics.

Our Values

AMSGM’s values reflect its ability to embrace paradoxes. The acronym CARE illustrates these values, and it is presented through 2 pairs of 2 contrasting values: Consistent & Avant-garde, Respectful & Exacting.

Consistent & Avant-garde

Being part of Aix-Marseille University enables AMGSM to sustain a stable model and to successfully conduct a long-term strategy over time. It consistently supports a public service culture. Most of its programmes have more than 20 years of existence.

On the other hand, the School impulses and manages innovations that are shaping the future of business education through a renowned PhD programme. Within its programmes AMGSM consistently adapts, experiments and introduces new content and deliberately encourages innovation and entrepreneurship.

Respectful & Exacting

AMGSM is respectful of people and nature as well as exacting.

Aligned with the values of public service (neutrality, equality, and continuity of service), the School is respectful of people and aims to be also respectful of nature. This guides the relations between professors, support staff and students. The School empowers students from all backgrounds through a unique combination of learning and service experiences, and the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. Students acquire a forward-thinking and respectful vision of the world (environmental protection, protection of the underprivileged) necessary for humanistic leadership.

On the other hand, the exacting expectations of our academic community is central. The small cohorts help create close ties between participants, staff, and faculty. This strength encourages the engagement of the School’s stakeholders, which makes it possible to quickly design and implement new pedagogical resources to face the coming transitions that structure the strategy of the School. Furthermore, the rigorous academic culture at AMGSM values content over form to ensure that our participants acquire comprehensive knowledge and a critical mindset to make an in-depth and robust analysis of the world they live in.

Our vision

In 2030, the School will be recognised as a caring school, and a reference in Europe for a new pedagogical and institutional model Impacting its ecosystems, Attracting aligned talents, and Embedding its participants into a systemic dynamic with human, organisation and nature.

  • A unique model

    IAE Aix-Marseille initiated an ambitious project in 2018 to build on its deep academic roots and strengthen its mission of “empowering humanistic leadership.” Our mission has taken shape through two strategic axes with three objectives: to disrupt the traditional pedagogical approach by breaking the codes of teaching around a theme of the future; to produce scientific research that feeds this pedagogy; and to respond to the socioeconomic world’s needs by building bridges between business, research, and pedagogy.

    The first axis, the I3 Lab, is aimed at empowering our students and developing their situational intelligence by using entrepreneurship as a pedagogical model. The second axis, “humanistic leadership,” is aimed at developing our students’ emotional intelligence by exposing them to the world of associations and humanitarianism.

    The ICube Lab

    In a global context that can be described as VICA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous), IAE Aix-Marseille is committed to a unique program focusing on entrepreneurship to develop the skills of the future. ICubeLab takes an integrated approach to empowering our students by developing their situational intelligence. The ICube Lab is leading a paradigm shift from a teacher-researcher posture of unidirectional transmission of knowledge to one that is more focused on coaching. This program is supported by the Entrepreneurial Legitimacy Chair (CLE), which was established to foster a better understanding the conditions for start-up legitimacy and its impact on firms’ performance. The ICube Lab has a profound impact on the local entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem through various events (such as the summer university on entrepreneurial legitimacy), providing advice, and organizing exchanges with the various players in this crucial ecosystem.

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    The humanistic leadership project

    In 2018, IAE Aix-Marseille initiated an ambitious project with a societal aim. This project is designed to transmit the school’s values to our students, cultivate a more humane leadership, and raise our future graduates’ awareness of the humanitarian, economic, social, and environmental role they will play in society so that they contribute to its sustainability. The pedagogical dimension is carried by a type of service learning activity (learning through service and commitment) that combines management learning objectives with civic engagement with associations and NGOs. It promotes initiative-taking and civic engagement while emphasizing critical thinking and personal reflection. A third of our teacher-researchers provide the research dimension of this project by working on related themes. Two research chairs have also been established to make that research more relevant to the problems faced by companies. This project has direct positive externalities for the associative (humanitarian, social, and environmental) and socioeconomic world thanks to student actions, the various events organized (such as the ADERSE congress), exchanges with stakeholders, and the Management Oath taken on graduation.

  • A true social elevator

    IAE Aix-Marseille wants to promote social mobility. The school is fully invested in developing sanwich programs by working with a vast network of partner companies. As a genuine springboard into working life for students, our sandwich programs are now a real success, with 50% of eligible students benefiting. This success is also demonstrated by an exceptional rate of student work integration after graduating from IAE. The Financial Times ranks the school as number one in France for value for money, with an employment rate of 94% within three months and an average salary of EUR 42,000..

IAE AIX-MARSEILLE, A SPECIAL STATUS WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY

IAE Aix-Marseille, like other management schools within universities, enjoys a special status (Article L713-9 of the Education Code) ensuring its autonomy in strategy, finance, and human resources.

IAE Aix-Marseille is the only part of AMU to be considered a graduate school. It holds that status because it delivers management degrees almost exclusively at the master’s and doctoral levels.

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At the strategic level, IAE Aix-Marseille governance is based on three boards:

  • The Boards, consisting of teacher-researchers, staff, students, business representatives, and local institutions.
  • The International Strategic Advisory Board, made up of representatives from the local and international business world.
  • The International Research Advisory Board, composed of internationally recognized teacher-researchers
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At the operational level, IAE Aix-Marseille governance is based on two committees:

  • The Strategic Committee, composed of the institute’s directors and associate directors, supports and implements the strategies determined by the boards.
  • The Executive Committee, composed of the institute’s five executives, is responsible for implementing the services activities.

INSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS

OUR IDENTITY

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Rankings and accreditations

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Student life and environment

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The IAE France network

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International

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