HEC Paris Tops the First News Tank Emerging Ranking on Employability and Corporate Relations

HEC Paris has secured the top spot in the very first News Tank Emerging ranking of French higher education institutions - corporate cooperation, published on February 6, 2025, by News Tank. This distinction rewards the school's ability to train students whose skills align with the strategic evolutions of businesses and major economic and societal transformations while fostering strong and lasting ties with the professional world.

When assessing the value of an HEC degree, the opinions of businesses and recruiters serve as a valuable indicator. This is precisely what the new News Tank Emerging ranking measures, evaluating French higher education institutions based on graduate employability and the quality of their corporate collaborations.

A ranking based on recruiter expertise

Unveiled during the Think Education and Research event organized by News Tank, on February 6, this ranking is based on a survey conducted among 1,433 recruitment experts tasked with evaluating institutions' ability to effectively prepare students for the job market's demands.

Recognition of Excellence in Training and Corporate Relations

This ranking highlights the excellence of HEC Paris' programs, the quality of its career development services (HEC Talents), and the strength of its corporate relationships. These privileged connections take various forms:
•    Partnerships with the HEC Foundation
•    Funding of research and teaching chairs
•    Support for centers and institutes dedicated to business innovation and transformation
•    On-campus recruitment through various career forums
•    Business projects

Pushing the frontiers of knowledge, developing all talents, joining a dynamic innovation ecosystem, and making an impact on society are the four pillars that structure our relationships with the companies that support us.
Beyond these direct interactions, this top ranking underscores the power of the HEC brand, recognized for the quality of its graduates and their impact on the business world.

HEC Leads the Ranking for Graduate Employability

The News Tank Emerging ranking is based on two major criteria:
•    Graduate employability (40% of the final score): Measures schools’ ability to train talents who are immediately operational in the job market.
•    Corporate cooperation (60% of the final score): Assesses the quality of interactions and partnerships between institutions and the socio-economic sector.

One of key differentiators of this ranking is that it is not limited to business schools, it considers all French higher education institutions. HEC Paris ranks ahead of Université Paris-Saclay (2nd), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (3rd), and Sciences Po Paris (4th).

HEC Paris particularly stands out in the employability criterion with a score of 33.8%, ahead of Polytechnique (26.1%) and Sciences Po Paris (24.8%).

Graduates Sought After for Their Key Skills

For Sandrine Belloc, Managing Director of Emerging, this ranking highlights a paradox in French recruitment:

"French companies can be paradoxical: they recruit from more accessible institutions but continue to value schools like Polytechnique and HEC in their rankings, as these remain absolute benchmarks. Indeed, graduates from these institutions are highly sought after for their ability to innovate, their strategic vision, their capacity to integrate into a globalized world, and their ability to anticipate major transformations."

This recognition reinforces HEC Paris' mission: to train leaders who drive change and tackle the strategic challenges of companies in an ever-evolving world.