Master in Management (Programme Grande École)

Excelia Business School’s Master in Management (Programme Grande École) is the master cycle of a triple-accredited French grande école — EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA — based in La Rochelle, with campuses in Tours and Paris-Cachan.¹ ² It ranks 39th worldwide and 12th in France in the Financial Times Masters in Management 2025, admits without the GMAT, GRE or Tage Mage (a video interview replaces the entrance test), and is built around a flagship corporate-responsibility identity — the Humacité© and Climacité© field projects and a top-tier reputation for teaching sustainability — at €15,000 a year (EU) / €15,750 (non-EU) for an applicant entering the master cycle — about €30,000 / €31,500 for the degree.¹ ² ³

Overview

Excelia Business School is the business school of Excelia, a French enseignement supérieur group co-founded by the La Rochelle Chamber of Commerce and Industry and regional public bodies, with roots going back to 1988 as Groupe Sup de Co La Rochelle.² ⁴ What lifts it above a purely regional school is the accreditation stack: Excelia Business School carries the “triple crown” of EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA — a combination only a small minority of business schools worldwide hold — and adds the EFMD Accredited Master label and PRME (UN Principles for Responsible Management Education) membership.² That is the genuine quality signal beneath the brand.

The ranked credential is real, too. Excelia’s Master in Management placed 39th in the world in the Financial Times Masters in Management 2025, 12th among French schools, and the school appears in the FT European Business Schools 2025 ranking.³ For where that sits among the wider field, weigh it on the full rankings. But the line that most distinguishes Excelia from the pack of mid-table French grandes écoles is what it is about — covered below.

Curriculum & Structure

The Master in Management is the master-level cycle of Excelia’s five-year Programme Grande École, awarding the state-recognised French Grade de Master (RNCP Level 7).¹ Students can enter the full programme post-secondary, or — as most international and bachelor’s-holding applicants do — join later through parallel/direct admission into the upper years, completing the two-year master cycle.¹ Teaching is available in both English and French tracks, so it works as an English-taught route for international students; confirm the English-track availability for your intended intake and campus.¹

Two features set the academic experience apart. First, breadth of specialisation: Excelia offers 50+ specialisation paths within the master cycle, alongside double-qualification options.¹ Second — and this is the school’s signature — responsibility is built into the degree, not bolted on. Every student completes Humacité©, a humanitarian or solidarity field assignment, and Climacité©, an environmental project, and the programme is positioned explicitly as “a socially and environmentally responsible programme.”¹ ² Internships are structured and progressive: an operational placement in the early master years, a vocational one mid-programme, and a six-month management-level internship in the final year.¹ On how a grande école master compares with the “MiM” label more broadly, see MiM vs MSc in Management, and on entering from a non-business background, doing a MiM without a business degree.

Application & Deadlines

Admission is without a standardised entrance test. Excelia assesses applicants to the Master in Management through an online application and a video interview — there is no GMAT, GRE or Tage Mage requirement — with the usual supporting documents (CV, proof of academic level).¹ The main gate beyond the file and interview is language: typically B2-level English or French, waived if your prior degree was taught in that language.¹ Because there is no admissions test, Excelia publishes no admitted-student score average, so we quote no range. A €50 admission fee and a one-off €350 multiservice fee apply.¹ For test-optional routes generally, see our guide to a MiM in Europe without the GMAT.

On timing, Excelia is unusually flexible, and unusually explicit about it. Re-read on 5 September 2026, the school’s own admission page says candidates “can complete this assessment at any time throughout the year, with no predefined session dates” — which is worth quoting, because “rolling admissions” is usually our inference from a school’s silence rather than the school’s own statement.¹ The turnaround is published as well: five days to answer the video interview’s questions, and notification of “admission or non-admission within 6 days following your interview”.¹

So there is genuinely no cliff-edge deadline here — but seats and any scholarship funding still fill as the cycle progresses, so applying earlier remains the safer move. Map the timing against the schools that do run fixed rounds on our deadline tracker.

Tuition & Funding

Excelia prices the Programme Grande École by the year you enter it, and its fee table gives two different rates for the same programme year depending on that entry point:¹

An applicant arriving with a bachelor’s degree enters at master level and pays the right-hand column, so the two-year master cycle the FT ranks costs €30,000 (EU) or €31,500 (non-EU) — plus a one-off €350 multiservice fee and the €50 admission fee.¹ This page quoted €28,000–€31,000 until 6 September 2026. That band’s floor was €14,000 × 2, which is the first-year entrant’s rate and applies to nobody entering the master; the lower figure was never wrong about Excelia, only about this reader.¹ The work-study (apprenticeship) route can have a host company cover fees entirely, and Excelia points applicants toward merit scholarships and reduced-rate student loans.¹

That places Excelia in the mid-range of the French grande école market — meaningfully below the marquee Parisian schools (HEC, ESSEC, ESCP) and broadly in line with the other AACSB/EQUIS regional grandes écoles — while La Rochelle’s living costs sit well below Paris, which compounds the saving for a budget-conscious applicant who still wants triple-crown, FT-ranked credentials. Fees vary by entry year and campus and change each cycle, so check the figure for your exact entry point and EU / non-EU status before you budget. For the wider cost picture, see the cheapest MiM in Europe shortlist and how much a MiM in Europe costs.

Career Outcomes

Excelia reports that roughly 85% of graduates find roles with an international dimension, that more than 60% secure a job offer following their end-of-studies internship, and school-reported average pay of about €40,000 in the first year, rising to about €49,000 around three years after graduation.¹ Consistent with our sourcing policy, we flag these as the school’s own figures, not Financial Times-audited salary data — so we do not rank Excelia on our highest-salary shortlist, which uses the FT’s cross-school weighted figure; treat Excelia’s numbers as directional and confirm the latest in the school’s own reporting.

Where Excelia’s outcomes are most differentiated is sustainability and impact. Its CSR-forward curriculum, the Humacité©/Climacité© projects and PRME membership route naturally toward ESG, sustainable-finance, impact and responsible-business roles — a genuinely growing recruiting market in Europe.² For that path specifically, see our guide to breaking into sustainability and ESG from a MiM and the best MiM in Europe for sustainability shortlist (which lists Excelia among the sustainability-focused programmes). On staying in France to work, see working in France after a European MiM and our guide to post-study work visas for MiM graduates in Europe. Weigh the broader return in is a MiM worth it in 2026?.

Reputation

A triple-crown accreditation (EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA), a 39th-in-the-world / 12th-in-France FT Masters in Management 2025 standing, a place in the FT European Business Schools 2025 ranking, and a recognised position among the world’s leaders for teaching CSR and “net-zero” make Excelia a credible, responsibility-led route into a European management master.² ³ It is the strongest fit for an applicant who wants internationally accredited, FT-ranked credentials with a genuine sustainability identity — and a test-free, rolling application — at a mid-market French price outside the Parisian premium, provided you’re comfortable that it is a respected regional grande école rather than a global marquee brand.

For context, weigh Excelia against the other French options we profile — Audencia Business School and NEOMA Business School among them — across the full rankings and the best MiM in Europe shortlist, and read how to build a MiM profile as you plan your application.

¹ Excelia Business School — Master in Management (Programme Grande École) (official programme name “Master in Management (Programme Grande École)”, Grade de Master / RNCP Level 7; five-year structure with parallel admission into upper years; English / French tracks; 50+ specialisation paths; structured internships incl. a 6-month management-level placement in the final year; Humacité© and Climacité© projects; rolling year-round admissions; admission by application + video interview, no GMAT/GRE/Tage Mage, B2 language requirement; EU ~€14,000–€15,000/yr, non-EU ~€14,750–€15,750/yr, €350 multiservice fee, €50 admission fee, work-study fee coverage; school-reported outcomes 85% international roles / 60%+ post-internship offers / ~€40k first-year and ~€49k after three years; retrieved 23 June 2026; re-read 5 September 2026 — every figure unchanged, and the rolling-admissions claim confirmed in the school’s own words plus the published 5-day / 6-day interview turnaround).

² Excelia — Excelia Business School (accreditations: EQUIS awarded 2023, AACSB since 2013, AMBA, EFMD Accredited Master 2025, PRME membership; campuses La Rochelle, Tours, Paris-Cachan, Orléans; co-founded by the La Rochelle Chamber of Commerce and Industry and regional public bodies; “a clear CSR vision”, “a socially and environmentally responsible programme”; retrieved 23 June 2026).

³ Excelia — Rankings (Financial Times Masters in Management 2025: 39th worldwide of 100, 12th among French schools; FT European Business Schools 2025: 56th; recognised among the world’s best for teaching CSR / “net-zero carbon”; retrieved 23 June 2026).

⁴ Excelia Group — Wikipedia (corroborating context for the school’s heritage: founded 1988 as Groupe Sup de Co La Rochelle, a private non-profit linked to the La Rochelle Chamber of Commerce and Industry; retrieved 23 June 2026).