The newest member of the Network of International Business Schools hails from Belgium’s French-speaking region.
EPHEC, short for École Pratique des Hautes Études Commerciales, operates two campuses in Brussels and a third in Louvain-la-Neuve, a university town located 30 kilometres south of Brussels.
The school was founded in 1969 with the aim of offering practical education to junior line executives. Enrollment now stands at 4,500, all undergraduate. Students have the option of pursuing degrees in foreign trade, marketing, accounting and management, law, e-business, information technology, mechanics, or electromechanics.
The majority of classes at the institution are taught in French, with third-year courses also offered in English. An English-language international program is available in both the fall and spring semesters.
“At EPHEC, we provide teaching with a practical and professional edge,” explains Barbara Brooijmans, head of the school’s marketing department and coordinator of its international weeks. “A key goal for us is to stimulate an entrepreneurial mindset among students.”
EPHEC currently has a teaching complement of 140 instructors, of which 82 are full-time faculty members.
According to Ms. Brooijmans, the school is eager to receive students from other NIBS schools for either a one-semester or full-year exchange. Likewise, EPHEC students are keenly interested in studying at international partner schools.
Said Ms. Brooijmans: “We see NIBS as a terrific vehicle to start new collaborations with like-minded schools, as well as to learn and share expertise.”