A survey conducted by Audencia Nantes on a sample of more than 700 business school graduates reveals that more than a third of them have been subject to discrimination, or have witnessed discrimination towards a fellow alumnus, in their place of work.

The major cause of discrimination cited by the graduates of the Audencia Master in Management (Grande Ecole programme) is ethnicity (34.6 % of the sample), followed by gender (34.3 %), age (30.2%) and social origins (28.6 %).

Acts of discrimination are most common concerning salary. Just under 28 % of alumni feel they have been victims of discrimination concerning their pay, while 41 % say they have witnessed this type of discrimination.

In the area of recruitment, 24.8 % cite themselves as victims, while 62.8 % have seen discrimination of this kind during their career. These figures seem to confirm that business school graduates are perhaps less susceptible to discrimination than other ranks of personnel or job candidates.

Business school alumni react in a variety of ways to such discrimination. Some look to embark on further professional training or to improve their interview performances, others boycott certain discriminating employers or prefer to resign.

To combat the discriminations found, the survey puts forward 10 actions for business schools:

- Make clearer the risks of discrimination and stereotyping

- Reinforce training on discrimination and diversity

- Increase the communication of company best practices

- Raise awareness of the role of networks

- Offer training to career advisors, faculty and business school deans

- Identify better those whose activity involves the question of equal opportunities

- Strengthen social equality initiatives and continue to launch new projects

- Establish partnerships with companies

- Create links with networks dedicated to fighting discrimination

- Further specific research on discrimination towards alumni

The survey is seen as a first step in the creation of a research chair devoted to equal opportunities among French business school graduates.