ESADE Business School is a private business school located in Barcelona, Spain. It is part of the ESADE (Catalan: Escola Superior d'Administració i Direcció d'Empreses, Spanish: Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas) and is associated with the Ramon Llull University. ESADE has been awarded the triple accreditation by the EQUIS, AACSB, and AMBA.
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History
The ESADE project was conceived in the spring of 1954 by a group of Spanish professionals and entrepreneurs during the period of isolation or autarchy initiated by Francisco Franco's dictatorship. Linked from the beginning to the Society of Jesus, they saw the need to professionalize the training of businessmen.
The school signed an agreement with the Jesuits (Societas Iesu) in October 1958 and started offering its first academic programmes in a small building in the district of Sant Gervasi, Barcelona. In 1958, ESADE was ultimately founded. Two years later, in 1960, executive education programmes were introduced as the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. In 1964, the university's MBA programme was established. A year later, in 1965, ESADE's Barcelona campus (Pedralbes) opened (Building I). In 2009, Sant Cugat del Vallès campus was inaugurated. In 2025, the school inaugurated its campus in Madrid (Mirasierra).
Programmes
ESADE Business School offers a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as doctoral programmes.
Bachelor's Programmes
Bachelor in Business Administration
Bachelor in Trasformational Leadership and Social Impact
Bachelor in Global Governance, Economics and Legal Order
Bachelor in Business and Artificial Intelligence
Double Degree in Business Administration & Law
Double Degree in Law + Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order
Double Degree in BBA & Business and Artificial Intelligence
Double Degree in Business Administration + Global Governance, Economics & Legal Order
MSc Programmes
Global Master in International Management
Global Master in Finance
Master in Sustainability Management
Master in Marketing Management
Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Master in Business Analytics
Master in Finance
Full-Time MBA
The ESADE Business School offers an accelerated, customisable full-time MBA programme. Students can choose between 12, 15 and 18-month tracks. The 12-month programme has classes from September to September of the following year, the 15-months programme has classes from September to December of the following year and the 18-month programme has classes from September to March of the following year. They allow for either summer internships, exchanges with other MBA programmes worldwide, and both. In the first eight months, students are divided into three sections, with whom they complete a significant portion of their studies in a team format. In the remaining terms, classes are completed on an elective basis. The student body is highly international, with 95% international students who represent 48 nationalities.
Executive Education
ESADE Business School offers a range of programmes aimed at executives and experienced professionals. These programmes include Executive MBA, Executive Master Programmes, InOn Programmes, Online Programmes, Open Programmes, and Blended Programmes.
PhD
The ESADE Business School offers a PhD programme aimed at training business school academics. It consists in two parts:
A Master of Research in Management Sciences (MRes) (duration: 1 year)
A PhD in Management Sciences (duration: 3 years)
A PhD in the Fundamentals of Law, Economic Law, and Business Law (in Spanish)
Notable alumni
Albert Rivera (born 1979), Spanish politician
Enrique Lores (born 1964/65), CEO of HP Inc.
Ramon Laguarta (born 1964), CEO of PepsiCo
Josep Maria Bartomeu (born 1963), Former President of FC Barcelona
Ferran Soriano (born 1967), CEO of Manchester City F.C.
Gabriel Escarrer Jaume (born 1971), Billionaire founder and CEO of Meliá Hotels International
Joan Rigol (born 1943), Former President of the Parliament of Catalonia
Iñaki Urdangarin (born 1968), Retired Spanish handball player
Albert Ollé Bartolomé (born 1964), Pioneer of the Call and Contact Center industry in Spain
Assumpta Escarp i Gibert (born 1957), Member of the Parliament of Catalonia for the Province of Barcelona
Javier Faus (born 1964), Chairman and CEO of Meridian Capital Partners
Javier Ferrán (born 1956), Chairman of Diageo
Eva Granados (born 1975), Deputy of the Parliament of Catalonia for the Socialists' Party of Catalonia
Sabina Fluxà (born 1980), Vice-Chairman and CEO of Iberostar Hotels & Resorts
Patricia Gras (born 1960), American journalist, television anchor, reporter and producer