ESSCA Officially Inaugurates New Campus in Luxembourg-Kirchberg

On Wednesday 28 October 2026, the ESSCA School of Management hosted a press conference ahead of the official inauguration of its new campus situated within the Chambre des Métiers in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

The press conference, led by Director of the Luxembourg campus Antoine Rech, featured contributions from Dean and Managing Director of ESSCA, Jean Charroin; Chief Operating Officer at ESSCA, Paul-Adrien Buf; ESSCA graduate and Group Chief Finance & Transformation Officer of Banijay Entertainment, Cédric Brignon; and first-year Masters student and Head of Risk and Compliance at ESSCA Junior Conseil, Marianne Jay.

Founded in 1909 in Angers, France, ESSCA is the first French business school to establish a presence in the Grand Duchy and is the only one to hold triple-accreditation (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS), giving it a unique international reputation, with its multi-location campus setup offering students a unique opportunity to complete their studies across its worldwide campus network.

The Luxembourg campus represents ESSCA’s tenth location, and joins Budapest (Hungary), Malaga (Spain) and Shanghai (China) as its fourth international campus outside of France.

The campus inauguration welcomed Director General of the Chambre des Métiers de Luxembourg Tom Wirion; Ambassador of France to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Christophe Bouchard and Mayor of the City of Luxembourg Lydie Polfer, as well as senior representatives and students of ESSCA. It featured contributions from ESSCA alumni and a roundtable discussion involving General Counsel at the Luxembourg Stock Exchange Christian Dohmen and Head of Regulatory and Public Affairs at Luxembourg energy company Encevo Mélanie de Saqui de Sannes.

At the press conference, Antoine Rech emphasised that ESSCA's ambition is to “participate in the country's attractiveness and competitiveness”, comparing the importance of its triple-accreditation to that of a three-star Michelin restaurant: “For a university or a business school that has three accreditations, you are part of less than 1% of the best business schools in the world.”

On opening the campus in Luxembourg, Antoine Rech remarked: “What is great in a country that includes the larger region, is that there is this mix of nationalities and cultures.” 

He detailed that the site can accommodate more than 100 students and offers Bachelor and Masters courses in both English and French. Of particular attractiveness to ESSCA was the ability to foster collaborations with Luxembourg’s established businesses and, through its relationship with the Chambre des Métiers, the structure to establish relationships with the Grand Duchy’s small and medium-sized companies.

Marianne Jay added: “I come from the south of France and what attracted me was this multicultural dimension… I think Luxembourg is the best example for this gathering of cultures, of languages… But above all, of course, to build my career beginnings here. I knew that [ESSCA] organised a lot of visits with companies, banks. That's really why I came to Luxembourg, to build my network and make my professional beginnings here in Luxembourg.”

On how the school’s long-established reputation converges with teaching developing technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and cybersecurity, Jean Charroin detailed how ESSCA will define large structuring projects on AI, including adaptations to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software - the integrated business management platform that organisations use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from their core daily operations - and rework its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to integrate AI functionality. 

ESSCA organises a Summer Programme focused on blockchain, decentralized finance, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), and also offers an immersion week dedicated to cybersecurity, organised in partnership with EFREI—a leading French engineering school specializing in digital fields. This initiative is supported by several key players within Luxembourg’s ecosystem, including the Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity, BIL, Thales, PwC, SES, Orange, Passbolt, Arendt, and innov'ICTion, and providing students with a hands-on immersion into the heart of Luxembourg’s cybersecurity ecosystem.

However, Jean Charroin stressed that although developing technologies are an integral part of the education and training ESSCA provides, ESSCA is “a management school… not a technology school”.

In closing, Antoine Rech said: “The first day at each school group is that the success of the students is the success of the school. It is that everything is in place so that each student can meet this success. Just like the failure of a student is the failure of the school. There is the idea of partnership, of collaboration, of support…The idea is that it is a partnership and that it is also a partnership with Luxembourg. So everyone should come out winning, Luxembourg, the school, the students.”

Futher information about  the ESSCA School of Management in Luxembourg can be found at https://www.essca.eu/en/10-campuses-around-the-world/luxembourg/.