With approximately 3,000 Indian students studying in France, an increasing number of students are now turning to the country to pursue their higher studies. While language has been a barrier for many students, many institutions are now adapting to English as the medium of teaching, thereby attracting more number of students.
One such institution is the Rennes Business School in Rennes, located in north western France. Created in 1990 and perhaps the youngest B school in France, the institution has already been triple crowned by EQUIS, the European quality assessment system for business schools. Boasting of faculty members who hail from various corners of the globe, the school finds itself in the list of top 10 business schools in France.
With a total of 4,048 students and three campuses at Rennes, about 50 per cent of the student strength is international, says Rennes Business School dean Olivier Aptel.
“Almost 85 per cent of our teachers hail from different countries. This is unique in France and this feature impacts all our activities and academic programmes as it helps us develop international programmes. Courses are taught in English and this is what attracts students from across the globe,” Dr. Aptel says.
With an international outlook, the institution has academic ties with several institutions across the globe, including India, allowing students to study in these partner institutes during their programme at Rennes and develop inter-cultural relations.
Students interested in pursuing a career in business studies may consider the two-year master in management course, master of arts in international business and master of science programmes (14 courses, all lasting for 16 months). Other than these, the Rennes School of Business offers an executive MBA (18-month course for people with roughly seven years of industry experience) and a doctorate in business administration.
While students have to study French as a compulsory subject for one semester, they will also have to do a winter session in Europe.
The business school is in cooperation agreements (for student exchange programmes) with 15 Indian institutions, including three Indian Institutes of Management, two Institutes of Management Technology, and Amity University, among others.
The tuition fee for the for the international master’s (MA and Msc) programmes is approximately Rs. 12 lakh for two years and adds up to approximately Rs. 19 lakh for the entire duration if living expenses are considered. Tuition fee for the master’s in management programme is 10,400 euros (approximately Rs. 8 lakh) per year and approximately Rs. 14 lakh per year along with the living expenses.
The French government offers an accommodation allowance of 180 euros per month to all international students. The business school offers partial international scholarship. Students may also avail of the Charpak Scholarship, offered by the Embassy of France in India. The school also has a tie-up with the Central Bank of India.
The school’s placement team helps students find internships and jobs after completion of their programme. In order to help students establish contact with companies, a round table discussion is held every week featuring professionals and faculty members which keeps students updated on the changes occurring in business marketing, finance, human resources and other sectors.
“Rennes is easily accessible from Paris and affordable, in comparison to other European cities. Currently, we have 60 Indian students across several courses and the number keeps increasing. We have the highest number of Indians enrolled in the MSc in Supply Chain and Management course, followed by the MSc in Global Business Management course. We have a lot of alumni in India. An increasing number of international students are also showing interest in spending a semester in an Indian institution and we also opened an office in Bangalore last year,” says Dr. Aptel.
Students interested in the bouquet of courses that the school offers can visit https://www.esc-rennes.fr/index.php/en for more details.
The writer was in France on the invitation of Rennes Business School.
