On the eve of the final stretch of the 2025 competition, Audencia has announced a significant change in the recruitment process for its Grande Ecole program (Master in Management) for 2026. Internationally, Audencia is joining the select club of Stanford University partners, with no additional tuition fees for students who join this prestigious institution. In the field of AI, Audencia is going beyond the scope of training and implementing a range of solutions to support its students' career guidance and professional integration throughout their studies. The school is also expanding its program of events to further enrich intellectual and artistic life on its campuses.
Audencia consolidates its commitment to preparatory classes
100% of first-year students in the Grande Ecole (MIM) program will be recruited from preparatory classes by September 2026
The school is strengthening its commitment to preparatory classes by dedicating the first year of its PGE program exclusively to preparatory class students starting in 2026 and discontinuing admissions based on academic qualifications for the pre-master's program (L3). This decision is guided by the desire to offer a pre-master's year that is fully in line with the 3/5/8 model. The first year is thus designed as a seamless transition from CPGE to GE.
Between 2023 and 2025, a small quota (between 60 and 70 places) was reserved for parallel admissions at bac+2 level.
Because diversity is also a strong commitment at Audencia, admission based on academic qualifications will be open to students in the second year of the program (bac+3 holders), allowing the class to benefit from a wealth of profiles within the master's program.
A dedicated admission pathway for students in scientific preparatory classes and D1/D2
These students will not have any specific written exams. Audencia has chosen to allocate them a number of dedicated places within the program, as their profiles offer many advantages for success in the careers offered by the grandes écoles. As such, 60 places will be reserved for science students and those from D1 and D2. The latter course, which is also highly selective, allows students to combine preparatory classes with a university degree in economics or law, equipping them with great agility through complementary knowledge and working methods.
Audencia forges new alliances on a global scale
One of the only French schools to partner with Stanford University
Through this partnership, Audencia joins the very select club of members of the International Honors Program (IHP) at Stanford, which brings together leading teaching and research institutions. Starting in the summer of 2025, 15 students from Audencia's Grande Ecole program, selected from among the best candidates, will travel to California to take part in a two-month intensive certification program.
If there were any further advantages to this partnership with the university ranked second in the Shanghai ranking and sixth in the QS ranking of the world's best universities, it would be that students will not have to pay any additional tuition fees. They will also benefit from accommodation in the International Honors residence.
Audencia students will have access to a wide range of courses to build a tailor-made multidisciplinary program from hundreds of options, such as AI Ethics, Energy Storage Integration, and a social sciences course entitled: What Should I Believe and Who Can I Trust? In addition to their courses, extracurricular activities will allow students to explore the rich cultural, entrepreneurial, and natural resources of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The agreement with Stanford complements Audencia's “range of prestigious American partners,” which includes five of the top eight institutions in the Shanghai world rankings:
- Harvard University (partnership with Harvard Division of Continuing Education)
- Stanford University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Oxford
- Columbia University.
Audencia now has 29 partners in the United States, including 22 in business management and seven in hybrid disciplines (New York Film Academy, Savannah College of Art and Design, etc.)
The Massachusetts program with 100% degree and certificate
The semester at Boston University, as part of the Massachusetts program offered by Audencia, is now certified. Students on this highly selective program will therefore obtain a certificate or diploma from all the institutions involved in the program (including Harvard DCE and their Audencia master's degree).
The new certificate in Boston brings to six the number of certificate programs in the US available to students (Boston University, Harvard DCE, Stanford University, University of Berkeley, UCLA, and UC Santa Barbara).
This is an additional asset that will enhance their international experience on their CVs!
Seven new partnerships with accredited institutions and three new dual degrees around the world
In order to offer a wide range of international opportunities while guaranteeing academic excellence, Audencia has signed seven new partnerships around the world with accredited institutions:
- USA: University of Tampa (Florida) – AACSB
- Ireland: Queen's University Belfast (EQUIS, AMBA) and University of Galway (AACSB, AMBA)
- Finland: LUT University (Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology) (EQUIS, AACSB)
- Cyprus: University of Cyprus (AACSB)
- Turkey: Özyegin University (AACSB) and Sakarya University (AACSB).
Europe:
Three new dual degrees have also been added to the 24 already offered abroad:
HEC Montréal: Grande Ecole students can now apply to join several programs, including a highly selective DESS (equivalent to an MSc) in management and professional finance (requiring very high-level finance skills).
Darla Moore School of Business (University of South Carolina) (AACSB): Grande Ecole students will benefit from courses at this business school, ranked No. 1 in the US for 26 years for its Bachelor's degree in International Business (US News).
Rabat Business School (AACSB): this dual degree is reserved for Audencia students enrolled in the Bachelor in Management program.
The school now benefits from a network of 250 academic partners on five continents (including 30 multidisciplinary partners).
AI: from training to career guidance and professional integration
Convinced that AI is still in its infancy and that its optimal use lies at the crossroads of many tools (AI, automation, etc.) depending on the uses and objectives, Audencia has opted for a logic of experimentation: an exploratory test & learn approach, which involves using many platforms rather than a single technological partnership that can be restrictive and hinder agility and the scope of possibilities. This position is aligned with our educational vision, which is to maintain our academic excellence, with AI enhancing capabilities and transforming the future professions of our students, while questioning the notion of impact, particularly ethical and environmental issues.
An educational vision shared with students and staff
Because understanding the challenges of AI and acquiring technical skills are now essential, all students joining Audencia in the fall of 2025, regardless of their program, will take part in a one-day workshop created by the school's educational engineers. After identifying the different types of artificial intelligence and learning about the algorithms at work, students will learn how to optimize their prompts while developing a critical eye on the results obtained (in particular through a debate on absurd prompts, highlighting biases and limitations). The aim is to encourage the sensible, relevant, and effective use of AI in their academic and professional careers, so that they become active participants in their own learning, rather than simply consumers of AI responses without any perspective.
The challenge of training our students is closely linked to that of developing AI-related skills among our faculty and, more broadly, among all employees. After two years of experimentation in various departments, an e-learning program will be launched in June with Obea, an expert in transformation issues. Using a profiler, the tool will measure each person's level of knowledge and skills and offer personalized modules. Everyone will be able to build their own training path and validate three skill sets:
- Block 1 - A minimum skill set (prompting, agent creation, etc.)
- Block 2 - Critical thinking and ethical issues
- Block 3 - Data protection and awareness
The ultimate goal is to make it a tool for certifying employee skills. It will also be part of the onboarding process for each new employee. Additional support programs by profession will be offered.
20% of Audencia's HR training budget is devoted to AI.
AI for career guidance and professional integration
Audencia is embracing AI to support its students in their career choices throughout their studies. Focus on several key stages:
From the Grande Ecole (MIM) oral exams onwards, candidates will be able to take advantage of an AudencIA tool that can present them with a 100% personalized program based on their personality and ambitions, ranging from choice of options and programs, to double degrees, semesters abroad, associations, activities in Nantes, and even the professions and sectors in which they can best reveal their potential. This tailor-made solution combines an Open AI assistant designed by Audencia with an AI web development tool. The 25-question personality questionnaire combines the best of two approaches: the Big Five model, a test based on the five main personality traits, and Ikigai, a well-known Japanese philosophy of personal development that helps people find their ideal place, where their passion, vocation, profession, and mission align.
AI also enhances the experience of the Career Center, whose teams support students and alumni on a daily basis. They constantly seek new tools and methods to help everyone with their career plans and ultimately offer the best possible professional integration.
No job without a successful interview: BRIO (from publisher TalimAI) allows students to practice via video, tailor questions to a job offer, and receive immediate feedback on their speech, as well as all non-verbal aspects such as body language and environment.
AssessFirst, a specialist in predictive recruitment, uses its AI Voice agent to assess technical and linguistic skills, just like a senior recruiter, and in a fair way, replacing the time-consuming stage of telephone screening. How? By combining conversational AI with the scientific and technological expertise that has enabled it to establish predictive models capable of assessing a candidate's ability to succeed in a given position and the time they will spend in the company.
The Career Center also uses CareerSet to correct CVs in English, helping to improve both content and form through precise feedback. It also matches students' applications with job offers to optimize their searches.
The Audencia Career Center is also (and above all):
- 8 career consultants and 30 partner consultants with a wide range of expertise, based in France and abroad
- + 450 workshops per year (CVs, career presentations, etc.)
- +3,570 individual appointments
Recruitment events (career forums, etc.)
Two new events to punctuate the intellectual and creative life of the campuses
“Contrechamps”: debates to examine the transitions taking place in the world
Climate crises, geopolitical tensions, social upheavals, and massive disinformation: our era is marked by complex and interconnected dynamics that are redefining traditional benchmarks. In the face of these challenges, this series of conferences offers essential insights, combining historical approaches and contemporary perspectives to better understand the major movements shaping our future.
Designed as a place for reflection and intellectual debate, this series invites students to exercise their critical thinking. Each session brings together two personalities in a lively discussion moderated by an Audencia professor to fuel debate, stimulate thought, and question certainties. The goal is to organize three events per year in Nantes and Paris, open to the Audencia community and the general public.
The very first conference will bring together:
Joséphine Staron, Doctor of Philosophy (Sorbonne University), Director of Studies and International Relations at the Synopia think tank, author of Europe: Solidarity Against Collapse,as well as Pierre Moscovici, First President of the Court of Auditors since 2020.Previous positions: Minister for European Affairs (1997-2002) and Minister of Economy and Finance (2012-2014), European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Taxation and Customs Union (2014-2019), French and European MP.
May 22 in Nantes
On the theme: Europe and the world: geopolitics of a power in the making?
From a historical and geopolitical perspective, the debate will examine Europe's place in relation to the major powers (USA, China, Russia) and growing international tensions.
The Tri-ART': a new and unique event focusing on three arts
In line with the triathlon, which celebrates sport as a vehicle for well-being, Audencia is highlighting its commitment to culture and artistic creation, which enable the development of creativity and innovation, two skills expected of future managers.
Under the patronage of a Nantes-based artist, Audencia is organizing in the fall of 2025 with its students a weekend dedicated to art, bringing together music, cinema, and visual arts in a collective and re-creative adventure. The first edition will take place at Atlantic Campus in Nantes.
The ambition is also to go beyond the walls of Audencia. Tri-ART' will invite all higher education students in Nantes to take up an inspiring challenge: to form a team of 3 to 5 people and, in 48 hours, create and perform an original song, produce a graphic work, or make a short film, all based on a theme revealed at the launch of the competition. Nantes, with its wealth of schools and talent in the creative industries, will become a veritable laboratory of emotions, stories, and mixed energies for a weekend. At the end of the event, a free performance open to all will reveal the works born of this effervescence.
Through this initiative, Audencia affirms that art is much more than a discipline: it is a universal language, a lever for inclusion, and a meeting ground for people from different backgrounds and horizons with shared passions. It is a joyful, creative, and unifying interlude to create unique memories and experience art as a driver of personal development and a vehicle for connecting the public and private worlds.
"All our projects, in their diversity, converge towards the same ambition: to offer each student an experience of excellence, the foundation for their fulfillment and future impact. True to our academic reputation, we strongly affirm our commitment to the preparatory program and defend international development based on excellence in teaching through prestigious partners. In the face of technological revolutions, our approach to artificial intelligence is accelerating career guidance and helping us fulfill our mission of helping each student, with their unique profile, find their ideal place in tomorrow's world, combining their personal and professional aspirations. Finally, through our events, we encourage our students to nurture their creativity and question the major movements that are shaping our collective future, so that they can become engaged citizens."
Sébastien Tran, Dean of Audencia