What Defines the EDHEC Global MBA Programme?

Sandra Richez, Programme Director of The EDHEC Global MBA, explains what kind of leaders the programme attracts—and what it means to truly commit to transformation.

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8 Oct 2025

Learn about the EDHEC Global MBA Programme

“Joining our MBA is more than just applying. It’s making a commitment to your personal and professional transformation.”

For Sandra Richez, Programme Director of the EDHEC Global MBA, the experience is not simply academic. It’s an inflection point.

The 10-month full-time programme, taught in Nice on France’s Mediterranean coast, is designed for professionals ready to challenge themselves in a demanding, multicultural environment. It asks participants to look beyond the next promotion or title and focus instead on what kind of leaders they want to become.

The qualities that define an EDHEC GMBA participant

When Richez speaks about what EDHEC looks for in its candidates, she describes a mindset more than a résumé.

“To join the EDHEC Global MBA, we look for internationally minded profiles with three to 10 years professional experience or maybe more. Our candidates have a growth mindset, a genuine desire to contribute to a more responsible business world.”

This focus on curiosity, collaboration and purpose sits at the heart of the programme. The MBA is deliberately compact and intense, completed in less than a year. Participants are expected to adapt quickly, think critically, and draw insight from their peers—people who arrive from all corners of the world and a wide range of industries.

Richez is clear about the traits that make EDHEC MBAs stand out:

“Intellectual curiosity and critical thinking. They’re able to learn in an intense and rigorous program and complete it in under a year.”

She also highlights their cultural agility: “They can collaborate in multicultural environments with 25 nationalities, gender balance, and an impressive array of professional experiences.”

Then there’s the entrepreneurial mindset. “They have an entrepreneurial mindset. Did you know we’re ranked number one for entrepreneurship by Poets&Quants?” For Richez, this isn’t about starting companies for the sake of it—it’s about approaching challenges with initiative, creativity and courage.

What unites these qualities, she adds, is a deeper motivation: “Above all, a sincere drive to make an impact to reflect EDHEC Business School’s ambitious Generations 2050 strategy and contribute to the Sustainable Impact Challenge.”

Leadership with purpose

The notion of impact runs through everything Richez says.

“EDHEC’s Global MBA has been consistently ranked top three worldwide in ESG teaching by the prestigious Financial Times.” That distinction is the result of years of embedding sustainability and ethical leadership into the school’s teaching philosophy.

During the programme, participants engage in a Sustainable Impact Challenge—a hands-on project that applies MBA knowledge to real-world ESG issues. It’s a reflection of how EDHEC blends learning with purpose: bridging business strategy, innovation and social responsibility.

The learning experience itself mirrors the diversity of modern leadership.

Participants build strategic foundations, select electives and a specialisation track, and undertake a tailored MBA project that connects academic rigour to practical outcomes. The Lead360 development journey runs in parallel, offering coaching and reflection sessions to help each participant refine their leadership approach and prepare for what comes next.

Yet for Richez, these programme elements are not the story. The story is the transformation that happens when people commit to them. “So if you see yourself in these values, then the EDHEC Global MBA is the right degree program for you.”