"HEC strives to be as pro-active as possible when it comes to placing its PhD graduates," explains Hervé Crès, Associate Dean of the HEC Master of Science in Management and PhD programs. Taking an original approach is crucial to avoid the "inbreeding" of some French universities and schools of higher education, which traditionally only recruit their own graduates.

"I believe that recruitment should be based exclusively on the excellence of a student's doctoral work and their potential to publish in the best international management journals. We make every effort to assist our PhD students in finding placements, usually targeting assistant professor positions in business schools of international stature," adds Crès.

As a result, 80% of HEC PhD graduates find jobs in academia, while the remaining 20% enter the corporate world. "About half of our graduates are placed in the French academic market, principally in business and management schools including ESSEC and INSEAD. The other half go to universities around the world. Last year, for example, we placed PhD graduates at HEC Montreal, Oakland Michigan State and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). In the past five years our graduates have gone to Carnegie Mellon, Rochester, CalTech, San Diego, Toronto and Lausanne. Such a high success rate in the international arena is unprecedented amongst French schools."

The process is supported by HEC's active policy of student mobility. "We encourage our PhD students to spend a year in a foreign doctoral program. This year we have students at Harvard, Wharton, Denver and Chicago to name but a few," says Crès. "We also provide financial assistance for our students to present papers at international conferences. This helps them build up their own networks and become familiar with the international job market, which means they are well-equipped for the future."

Prestigious placement and awards for 2006 PhD student

HEC graduate Bang Nguyen-Dang was appointed Assistant Professor of Finance at CUHK in September 2006. The epitome of modern internationality, Bang was born in Vietnam and studied in France and the US before joining CUHK. "Today, neither the top financial companies nor the top universities can afford to be limited by geographical borders. As a result, it's particularly important to have technical skills, a global outlook and a sensitivity to local cultural issues," says Bang. Although he believes HEC to be one of Europe's most cosmopolitan business schools, he notes that its reputation in Asia is only just beginning to take off. "Asia's universities are now just as competitive as US institutions in terms of their salaries and the quality of their research programs. It's important that HEC achieves its true potential as it moves forward."

Bang was recently awarded the prestigious Thesis Prize from the French Finance Association (FNEGE-AFFI), as well as the 2006 Barclays Global Investors' Award for the best paper presented by a PhD student. The award was conferred at the European Finance Association in August 2006.