History

Founded in Nantes in 1900, Audencia – from the Latin audientia, meaning “listening”, and audacia, meaning “daring” – was first accredited by EQUIS in 1998 and is ranked amongst the top European business schools. Learn more about Audencia’s quality.

UN Global Compact & CSR expertise

In 2004, Audencia joined the UN initiative uniting companies, the business world and civil society around 10 universal principles for labour and environmental standards and human rights. We were the first business school in France to join the Global Compact.

Since then, we have been developing and disseminating our expertise in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and integrating it into our research, teaching and internal management.

Expansion

Bachelor to doctorate, Nantes to Paris to Beijing

In 2010, Audencia incorporated the strengths of SciencesCom (a media and communication school founded in 1984) and the École Atlantique de Commerce (for post-baccalaureate education, set up in 1981). Both are accredited programmes ranked amongst the best in their specialist area.

Audencia can therefore now offer management and communication programmes from bachelor’s to doctoral level. We have also developed executive courses, available in France as well as internationally, which provide educational solutions to meet the strategic challenges and operational objectives of businesses.

Audencia currently has four campuses in Nantes, a campus in Paris and a Cooperative Center for Studies in Beijing.

Alliance

Engineering, management, architecture & creativity

In 2013, the École Centrale de Nantes, Audencia and the Nantes École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture (ensa Nantes) formed a strategic alliance for greater synergy. This alliance unites engineering, management, architecture and creativity to enrich the teaching, research, corporate relations and international scope of all three schools.

Consular Institution of Higher Education

In 2017, Audencia changed status from an association to a consular institution of higher education. Audencia, which is backed by Nantes-St Nazaire Chamber of Commerce, thus expands its managerial and decision-making autonomy in order to better address the challenges of its development.

Reaccreditation & strategic plan

EQUIS, AACSB & AMBA

In 2020, Audencia was awarded reaccreditation by EQUIS, AACSB and AMBA for the maximum period of five years and has become one of the 30 schools in the world included in the Positive Impact Rating.

Learn more about Audencia’s quality

In 2021, the School unveils its 2021-2025 strategic plan, named ECOS 2025.