We are pleased to announce that KEDGE Business School, France, has successfully completed the EFMD Business School Impact System assessment process and has been awarded the BSIS label for positive impact.

The BSIS review team highlighted several key strengths at KEDGE, including its financial robustness, academic grounding, and regional embeddedness, with its influence extending well beyond its campuses in Bordeaux and Marseille.

Addressing the school’s achievement, EFMD BSIS Director François Bonvalet remarked:

“BSIS recognises institutions whose impact is measurable, sustained, and structurally embedded within their territories. KEDGE Business School demonstrates this with clarity. Its economic contribution, depth of corporate engagement, strength in research aligned with regional priorities, and mature entrepreneurial infrastructure together reflect an institution that is not only academically credible but decisively anchored in Bordeaux and Marseille. The BSIS label award acknowledges the school’s exceptional standing within the European higher education sector.”

Institutional profile

KEDGE Business School is a French grande école of management established in 2013 from the merger of EUROMED Management, founded in Marseille in 1872, and Bordeaux École de Management, founded in 1874. It holds accreditation from AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS, and enrols about 16,000 students worldwide across campuses in France, China, Senegal,  Côte d’Ivoire and India. The School offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in management and related fields and maintains a global alumni community exceeding 94,000. KEDGE combines academic rigour with international outreach and strong industry links to prepare graduates for careers in business and leadership.

Economic influence on Bordeaux and Marseille

The BSIS review team underscored the scale of KEDGE’s economic contribution. The School generates more than €1.12 billion in economic impact across Bordeaux and Marseille, including direct, indirect, and induced effects. This places KEDGE among the most significant economic contributors within higher education in its region.

In Marseille and Bordeaux, the School is recognised as a major actor in the regional economy. Its long-standing institutional presence, close relationships with corporate partners, and sustained engagement with local stakeholders reinforce this position. Financial governance is assessed as rigorous and forward-looking, with disciplined monitoring of programme margins, structured risk analysis, and continued investment in academic capacity. The recruitment of additional full-time professors and a clear growth strategy for executive education are presented as evidence of institutional maturity and strategic clarity.

Educational reach and talent retention

KEDGE attracts a balanced mix of regional, national, and international students, strengthening the attractiveness of both territories. The inflow of non-local students contributes materially to local economic activity while broadening the regional talent base.

Graduate outcomes are considered strong. A substantial proportion of graduates enter the French labour market, and many remain in their regions. The School is viewed as a reliable supplier of work-ready, internationally credible graduates. Executive education provision complements this contribution by addressing regional workforce needs in areas including sustainability, digital transformation, entrepreneurship, and sector-specific management. Its portfolio spans long-term degrees and targeted certifications, enabling professionals at different career stages to upskill while remaining in employment.

The alumni community, numbering approximately 27,000 across the two regions, is presented as a strategic resource. Alumni hold leadership roles in sectors central to local economic identity, including maritime logistics, wine, finance, and innovation. Their engagement through mentoring, investment initiatives, and advisory roles further reinforces the School’s regional footprint.

Large-scale contribution to business activity

The BSIS review placed particular emphasis on KEDGE’s operational contribution to companies. More than 5,000 full-time equivalent positions are mobilised each year through internships, apprenticeships, and short-term assignments. This represents a significant labour contribution to regional firms, valued in the hundreds of millions of euros. Employers report high levels of satisfaction with students’ technical competence, adaptability, and professional maturity.

Long-term partnerships with major organisations, sustained recruitment pipelines, and collaborative initiatives demonstrate institutional credibility and embeddedness within the business sector. The scale and regularity of student engagement constitute a structural component of regional workforce capacity.

Mature and differentiated entrepreneurial infrastructure

Entrepreneurship is identified as a distinctive strength. The KEDGE Entrepreneurship Hub is described as a mature and clearly differentiated entrepreneurial infrastructure that supports regional innovation and job creation. Its structured pathway from pre-incubation to acceleration supports hundreds of projects annually, serving both internal and external entrepreneurs.

The combination of mentoring by experienced alumni, access to seed funding mechanisms, and integration with regional innovation networks reinforces the School’s role in fostering new ventures. The resulting business creation and employment effects provide concrete evidence of territorial impact.

Intellectual production aligned with regional priorities

KEDGE’s intellectual output is presented as both substantial and strategically aligned. The School produces a significant volume of peer-reviewed publications, case studies, and academic events, supported by structured research incentives. Its research centres anchor recognised expertise in marketing, supply chain, sustainability, food and hospitality, and international business.

Importantly, research strengths closely align with regional economic priorities. In Marseille, expertise in maritime logistics, sustainability, and health innovation reflects local industrial strengths. In Bordeaux, research in wine economics, logistics, digital innovation, and sustainable tourism reinforces key sectors. Conferences and thematic initiatives position the School as a convening platform for academics, policymakers, and industry leaders.

Chairs and research partnerships with organisations in finance, transport, wine, public health, and environmental policy demonstrate embedded collaboration. Research findings are actively disseminated to practitioners and incorporated into programme design, ensuring coherence between intellectual production and graduate capability.

An institution deeply integrated within its territories

Across financial, educational, entrepreneurial, and intellectual dimensions, the BSIS review team portrayed KEDGE as deeply integrated within its territories. Its historical ties to chambers of commerce, structured corporate relationships, and sustained regional engagement contribute to a position of institutional trust.

The cumulative effect of its activities is clear: more than €1.12 billion in economic impact, thousands of jobs supported annually, sustained business development, and a mature innovation infrastructure. The BSIS review team concluded that this exceptional territorial contribution, rare in the French and European sector, justifies the award of the BSIS label.

Alexandre de Navailles, Directeur Général, KEDGE Business School, commented:

“These results clearly demonstrate that higher education is a strategic investment for regional development. KEDGE is not merely a place of learning; it is a fully-fledged economic actor, generating value, employment and attractiveness for Bordeaux and Marseille.”

About BSIS

The Business School Impact System (BSIS) is the first comprehensive impact assessment tool for business schools, covering more than 130 indicators across seven dimensions of impact. It provides a tailor-made data collection system for monitoring, assessing, and developing the impact of business schools.

The BSIS process involves the definition of the impact zone and institutional scope, data collection, impact assessment, and the report with recommendations for future development. Demonstrating the school’s impact on internal and external stakeholders, the system serves as a communication and negotiation tool externally and fosters an impact culture within the school. Schools that undergo BSIS are awarded the BSIS Label for a three-year period.

• There are currently more than 100 schools across 30 countries that have received the BSIS label.
• To learn more about the impact assessment system, please visit the BSIS website or contact Julie Comte.

What is it like for schools to undergo the BSIS process? Discover the compelling journey of Blanka Cimcioch, International Accreditations Coordinator at Poznań University of Economics and Business, as she shares her insights on navigating the BSIS process, highlighting the challenges, seizing the opportunities, and reaping the rewarding results it has yielded. Read more.

For additional insights, announcements and perspectives, please visit the conversation on the EFMD Business School Impact System (BSIS).