EDHEC and emlyon are two of France’s strongest non-Parisian Grande École Master in Management programmes — and on the numbers they are almost indistinguishable. emlyon is Financial Times #12 and QS #16; EDHEC is FT #14 and QS #18. Both are global top-15, both cost about €44,000, and both report an FT-weighted salary around $108–109k. So the choice is rarely about prestige — it is about specialism, city and the kind of school you want. This guide compares them on what actually decides it, using the data from the programmes we profile — see the full EDHEC and emlyon entries for the detail behind each figure.
The two programmes at a glance
| EDHEC Business School | emlyon business school | |
|---|---|---|
| Programme | Master in Management — Grande École | Master in Management — Grande École (PGE) |
| FT MiM rank (2025) | #14 | #12 |
| QS Management rank (2026) | #18 | #16 |
| Course length | ~24 months | ~24 months (extendable to 36 with a gap year) |
| Tuition | ~€44,700 | ~€44,000 |
| FT-weighted salary | ~$109k | ~$108k |
| Employment rate (3 mo) | ~98% | ~93% |
| Known for | Finance & data science | Entrepreneurship; CEMS |
| City | Lille / Nice | Lyon |
(Rankings are from the Financial Times Masters in Management 2025 and QS Business Masters: Management tables we hold on each profile — read positions as bands, not exact ranks (see how to read MiM rankings). Fees and figures are the programme data from the profiles we publish and move each cycle — confirm the current number on each school’s own page.)
Rankings and brand: two halves of the same tier
There is no meaningful quality gap. emlyon edges EDHEC on both tables we track — FT #12 / QS #16 versus FT #14 / QS #18 — but the gap is well within the noise of how these rankings are built, and both sit comfortably inside the global top fifteen. Both belong to the cluster of elite French Grande École MiMs just below the HEC–ESSEC–ESCP top tier, and both carry international accreditation and a heavyweight corporate-partnership network.
The honest read: if you are choosing on ranking alone, you are choosing on a rounding error. Read both against the field on our composite rankings, and see how the FT and QS are built in our rankings explainer.
Specialism and city: entrepreneurship in Lyon vs finance & data in Lille/Nice
This is where the two genuinely diverge.
emlyon is the entrepreneurship school. Based in Lyon, France’s second city, it pairs the standard consulting and finance tracks with a long-standing entrepreneurship heritage, and it is a CEMS member — useful if you want the CEMS double-degree route and its international placement network. The Master in Management runs about 24 months, English-taught, and can be extended to 36 months with a gap year built around internships.
EDHEC is the finance-and-data school. With campuses in Lille and Nice, EDHEC has a particular reputation in finance and data science, a large, internationally-oriented cohort, and a dense corporate-partnership network it leans on heavily in marketing the degree. The programme also runs about 24 months with a professional-immersion year that students use to convert internships into full-time offers.
On cost the two are effectively tied — ~€44,000 (emlyon) versus ~€44,700 (EDHEC) — both private Grande École fees in the mid-€40k band, above ESSEC and below HEC and ESCP. Weigh living costs (Lyon versus Lille or Nice) and any scholarship offer rather than the headline fee. See how French fees compare on the cheapest MiM in Europe shortlist and in how much a MiM costs, and what the degree covers in what you study in a MiM.
Careers: both elite, with a different placement flavour
Both place strongly and the headline pay is nearly identical — an FT-weighted three-year salary of about $108k at emlyon and $109k at EDHEC. The destination mixes differ in emphasis: emlyon reports a ~93% three-month employment rate, with consulting and audit taking around 40% of placements, then finance and banking, industry and technology; EDHEC reports about 98%, led by consulting (~31%), then marketing and communication, business development and finance (~14%), reflecting its finance-and-data positioning. Recruiter lists overlap heavily — the big consultancies (McKinsey, BCG, Bain at emlyon; Accenture, Capgemini Invent, Wavestone across both), the Big Four, and major corporates such as L’Oréal, LVMH and Amazon. Both feed the same top recruiters — see who recruits European MiM graduates and which industries hire MiM graduates.
How to choose
- Optimise for entrepreneurship or the CEMS route: emlyon — Lyon, entrepreneurship heritage, CEMS member.
- Optimise for finance or data science: EDHEC — Lille/Nice, with a finance-and-data reputation and a large international cohort.
- Optimise for the highest ranking of the two: emlyon (FT #12 / QS #16) — but only just.
- Optimise for the highest reported employment rate: EDHEC (~98%).
- By city: Lyon (emlyon) versus Lille or Nice (EDHEC).
Both are as good as the French MiM gets outside the top three, so anchor the decision on the fundamentals: entrepreneurship and CEMS in Lyon (emlyon) versus finance and data science in Lille/Nice (EDHEC). Then verify the current fees, deadlines and entry requirements on each school’s own page, because they move every cycle. For a fuller side-by-side, see our EDHEC vs emlyon comparison page; for the wider field, the best MiM in France; turn a ranking into a list with how to build your MiM shortlist; browse the full catalogue; map your timing on the deadline tracker; and if you’re still weighing the degree itself, start with is a MiM worth it in 2026 and MiM vs MBA.