Inclusion & Diversity

At ESCP, Our Diversity Is Our Strength

The ESCP community comprises students, faculty and staff from over 130 nationalities who bring their own experiences and vision of the world. This diversity is our most precious resource in educating tomorrow’s responsible and accountable business leaders. That’s why we place inclusion and diversity at the heart of everything we do.

“At ESCP, we believe that diversity cannot exist without inclusion. We strive in all aspects of the ESCP experience to ensure a safe and inclusive learning environment for our students, faculty and staff.”

Thomas David
Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity

United for European Spirit
Inside Out Project 2023

Advancing Diversity & Inclusion

From its establishment in 1819 in Paris, ESCP has been a pioneer, aiming to offer a unique learning experience to students from various academic, social, cultural, and personal backgrounds.

History
Inclusion and diversity in the school's DNA

In the 1820s

The school welcomed students from across Europe and the world, setting the standard for modern business schools with international cohorts.

In the 1970s

The school became the first French business school to welcome a female student at a time when higher education was still segregated, and the first to enroll students through specific admission processes, aside from the French “Classes Préparatoires”.

2016

In 2016, ESCP created its Inclusion & Diversity Committee. It is in charge of dealing with situations of discrimination, such as racism, homophobia - LGBT phobias, sexist and sexual violence, hazing, discrimination related to disability and to the state of health of which students can suffer from during the course of their studies (students in full-time programmes, Executive Education participants, Ph. D. participants).

2017

In February 2017, ESCP signed a Charter to formalize its commitment to the rights and freedoms of its LGBT community. This Charter was developed in collaboration with the student society “ESCaPe”, which works to promote diversity within the School and to fight against discrimination based on sexual and gender identity.
As of 2017, all students must sign the Appendix to ESCP’s Internal Regulations on Inclusion and Diversity, and the Inclusion and Diversity Charter. All students thus formally commit to respect and abide by the rules and the values of ESCP regarding Inclusion & Diversity, and to behave ethically.

2020

In April 2020, ESCP signed the CGE Charter of Commitment to Inclusion and Respect for Diversity.

2022

In 2022, the school also implemented a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) that sets out the ambitions, priorities and activities as well as the trajectories and targets of ESCP around gender equality, and more broadly around diversity and inclusion, for all its community (students, staff and faculty, notably).
ESCP became an academic partner of the Women’s Forum in 2022.

Inclusion & Diversity Policy

As part of ESCP’s push towards more inclusion within its academic programmes, in 2016, the school established an Inclusion and Diversity Policy to be applied across the school’s campuses and appointed an Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity.

The commitment towards Inclusion and Diversity is led by the Associate Dean for Inclusion and Diversity, who works in close collaboration with students across campuses, the Legal Department, and the School's General Management, and oversees the activities of the Inclusion & Diversity Office that is composed of the Inclusion & Diversity Officer and the Inclusion & Diversity Committee.

The Inclusion & Diversity Committee is composed of Staff and Faculty members, including: the Associate Dean for Inclusion & Diversity, the School’s nurse, the Director of the Paris Campus Life, a representative of the Legal Department, a representative of the Student Services, one Faculty member, and one representative from each campus.

The action of the Inclusion & Diversity Office at ESCP is based on three pillars:

Raising awareness and promoting inclusion and diversity within the ESCP Community
A specific support procedure for victims, which may lead to the referral of a case to the Inclusion & Diversity Disciplinary Board by the Dean
A body of disciplinary sanctions, ranging from a reminder of the Internal Rules and Regulation to the permanent exclusion of the school

Inclusion and Diversity
Multiculturalism, Equality, Respect
[PDF - 84 Ko]

Inclusion & Diversity
Education and Research

ESCP ensures that its Inclusion & Diversity policy involves students, from their coursework to the recruitment process.

Recruitment initiatives to ensure diversity & inclusion among candidates

Master in Management
Talent Spring Programme

An original and demanding admission process dedicated to high-potential candidates in France who face unfavourable personal environments. Talent Spring’s innovation lies in its unique assessment centre, inspired by those used by companies to recruit talent, which—contrary to classic admission processes—is not grades-based.

Upon enrolment, Talent Spring students benefit from individualised support from the school with dedicated professors and professional staff as well as a specific induction seminar to anticipate their course choices and financing of their studies.

Talent Spring is an impactful tool to promote social inclusion in higher education.

Admission Process

French “Classe Préparatoire”
Improving Chances Project

In 2021, ESCP and the ESCP Foundation launched the project “Chances Augmentées” (Improving Chances) for students in preparatory classes. This project aims to support preparatory students with scholarships, through workshops on self-confidence and leadership, and to prepare them for oral exams (interviews and languages). Through this programme, they meet with and benefit from the support of alumni and peers.

About the 2022 Edition ^[FR]

Scholarships available per programme

At ESCP, we value diversity and want to encourage real exchanges between individuals from many different backgrounds. To facilitate this, we offer scholarships to candidates accepted into the programmes concerned (e.g according to programmes: Women in Leadership, Individuals based in Emerging Market, NGO/Non-profit scholarship, Society Contribution Scholarship, Entrepreneurial, CROUS Scholarship, …).
See the individual programmes under the Programmes & Training page to learn more about available scholarships.

Inclusion & diversity initiatives during your studies

The student community is also sensitised to inclusion and diversity issues through several awareness-raising initiatives.

Notably, as of 2017, all students newly enrolled in the Pre-Master Year (PMY) must follow a one-day I&D seminar at the start of every academic year (400+ students every year).

A similar mandatory I&D introductory seminar has been implemented for the new students of the Bachelor program (BSc), across all entry campuses (London, Paris, Turin, which represents more than 800 students per year).

Looking ahead, the I&D Office will work to ensure that all new students, across all programmes, are required to attend an I&D seminar.

The school and its I&D Office also encourage and support all awareness-raising initiatives coming from the ESCP community.

Such initiatives include, but are not limited to:

The creation of dedicated Executive Education programmes:
- Women in Leadership Certificate
  Three editions and bespoke company-targeted versions of the “Women in Leadership'' programme have underscored ESCP’s expertise in this area.
- LGBTQ+ Leadership Programme
  The school’s LGBT+ Leadership programme was the first leadership programme in Europe aimed at LGBT+ talents.
The creation of specific courses (e.g., the Dismantling Global Racism course), conferences and roundtables organised by professors (e.g., roundtables on LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the workplace), awareness-raising seminars on mental disabilities)
Student initiatives (e.g., the “Toget’Her” week, organised by a student association every year in Paris around International Women’s Day, or similar initiatives organised on other campuses, like the participation to the Women’s Day Run), or awareness-raising workshops for staff members (e.g., Inclusion & Diversity Project in Turin).

Academic initiatives dedicated to inclusion & diversity

Excellence Centre for Intercultural Management, Diversity and Inclusion

The Excellence Centre’s goal is to deepen the understanding of intercultural management, diversity, and inclusion-related issues in organisations and to translate the latest scientific insights into practice.

Specifically, our Excellence Centre focuses on three research questions:

First, how can we define and conceptualise individual competencies that support and foster an inclusive work environment?
Second, what trajectories exist or can be envisioned that help employees and leaders to develop these competencies?
And finally, what tangible effects can we observe in an organisational environment focusing on inclusion?

Go to the centre

Talent Management Institute

The twin goals of the Talent Management Institute are:

To deepen the understanding of talent management in various contexts, including small- and medium-sized companies and multinational corporations, traditional and new forms of work, as well as country-specific institutional and cultural influences
To translate the latest scientific insights into practice

Go to the institute

Serious Game: Moving Tomorrow – An Intercultural Journey

The Serious Game familiarizes players with the subjects of culture and intercultural management and supports them in developing their intercultural skills for navigating successfully in an international business context.

Go to the programme

Inclusion & Diversity
From the Community

Below is a selection of the most recent inclusion & diversity related news from the ESCP community. This includes announcements, events and academic articles on relevant topics. You will also find below the list of inclusion & diversity-focused student societies.

Inclusion & Diversity News

For more on inclusion & diversity within the workplace and business strategy, visit ESCP’s media, The Choice, or listen to our podcast, Her Voice, dedicated to giving the microphone to women experts from the ESCP community.

Student Societies

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AWARE, the society dedicated to advancing gender equality at ESCP Business School, strives to: promote awareness of gender equality issues, combat sexism within ESCP and the professional sphere, and nurture students' ambitions while preparing them for their careers.

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ESCaPe is ESCP's LGBTQ+ student society, dedicated to providing a safe and inclusive environment for all ESCP students. Its mission is to champion Inclusion and Diversity within the school, with a particular focus on raising awareness about the LGBTQ+ community.

ESCP Student Society, Students4Entrepreneurship S4E

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The Women in Leadership Network and Society (WINL) at ESCP Business School aspires to foster a supportive community that champions inclusivity, gender equality, and sustainability both within ESCP campuses and the broader business sphere.

ESCP, Berlin Student Society, Girl Up ESCP

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Girl Up is a global movement initiated by the UN Foundation, which aims at fighting against all forms of injustice and inequality women and girls face around the world. Its aim is to raise awareness so that girls everywhere can have access to the same opportunities.

Inclusion & Diversity
Resources and Support

Below you will find the detailed steps for ESCP’s procedure to report cases of harassment.
Important: The support procedure and all exchanges with members of the Inclusion & Diversity Committee are strictly confidential.

1 - How to report an incident

All students can report an incident (discrimination, harassment, sexual or sexist violence...) by contacting:

The dedicated online alert portal : escp.signalement.net. This new online alert system was funded by the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and Innovation within the framework of the 2022 call for projects entitled "Support for higher education and research institutions in the fight against sexual and gender-based violences.
The dedicated address created by ESCP: stopharcelement@escp.eu;
One member of the Inclusion & Diversity Committee (the Associate Dean for Inclusion & Diversity, the Inclusion & Diversity Officer, the Inclusion & Diversity representative of their campus, etc.).

All members of the Inclusion & Diversity Committee are bound by a Code of Conduct (confidentiality and neutrality).

2 - The implementation of the support procedure

The Listening phase

When a report is made to the Inclusion & Diversity Committee of ESCP, it triggers a phase of interviews with the victim(s) and witness(es) who wish to be heard. If necessary, students are also provided with psychological or medical support from the ESCP medical centre.

The Investigation phase

Once the initial testimonies have been collected, the Inclusion and Diversity Committee may initiate an internal investigation, during which the defendant(s) and all identified witnesses are interviewed. This investigation is conducted in a neutral, objective, and confidential manner. These investigators are tasked with collecting all the necessary information and testimonies to shed light on the situation brought to the Inclusion & Diversity Committee.

Following this investigation phase, a report is submitted to the Dean of ESCP. Based on the information presented, the Dean may refer the case to the Inclusion & Diversity Disciplinary Board of ESCP. If the evidence gathered during the internal investigation does not warrant referral to the Discipline Council, the investigation may either be closed or suspended pending further evidence.

3 - The disciplinary phase

If a case is referred to the Inclusion & Diversity Disciplinary Board, all involved parties are then summoned to a formal hearing in front of the Disciplinary Board members. The conditions under which this hearing is organised, and the composition of the Disciplinary Board, are defined in the Internal Rules and Regulations of ESCP.

The members of the Disciplinary Board review all the case files, and take testimonies from the victim, witnesses and defendants, before making a collegial decision regarding the sanction(s) to be applied. The body of potential sanctions ranges from a reminder of the Internal Rules and Regulation to the permanent exclusion of the School.

4 - Criminal proceedings

Victims of all forms of discrimination or violence can file a formal complaint with the police and initiate criminal proceedings.

Following a report, the Dean of ESCP may also report the matter to the Public Prosecutor in Paris, who will then decide whether or not to open a judicial inquiry. This reporting is strictly independent of any complaint filed by the victim.

Criminal proceedings are separate from internal support and disciplinary procedures. Those procedures can therefore be carried out in parallel. The Inclusion & Diversity Disciplinary Board may nonetheless take into account a criminal justice decision when ruling on disciplinary matters.