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EADA is celebrating its 65th anniversary by writing a new chapter in its history marked by two significant milestones. In September, EADA kicked off the first edition of the EADA-SKEMA Global BBA, as a result of its agreement with the prestigious French business school, SKEMA. A total of 83 participants from 30 countries started a transformative 4-year experience that will give them the opportunity to travel to any of the countries with SKEMA campuses: Brazil, China, France, South Africa or the United States. The second milestone came with the announcement over the summer that EADA will be opening a second campus in Barcelona in 2023, Campus 2 Provença. The 4,200 m²  building will host undergraduate students and will open with the first edition of the Double Bachelor in Business and Artificial Intelligence, which is also a joint EADA-SKEMA degree programme.

This expansion of the school coincides with major changes that have taken place over the last three years in the governing body of the school (the Board of Trustees) and the steering committee, with Koke Pursals taking over as President of the Board of Trustees of the EADA Foundation in 2019 and Jordi Díaz becoming Dean in 2020. The school has since based its strategic approach around three main pillars: sustainability, leadership and innovation. These three fundamental areas form the basis for the design of a large part of the international and executive programmes at EADA in order to adapt them to the new business world based on responsible and ethical leadership.

From a small consultancy to an international business school

The history of EADA dates back to 1957 when it was founded as a small consulting and recruitment company. It was the first business school to be established in Barcelona and, unlike other institutions that were created immediately afterwards, it has been financially and politically independent from the start. Co-founder, Irene Vázquez, defended ideological plurality, practical learning and working closely with the business world and since its founding EADA has always been a business school created for business people by business people. As early as the 1960s, professionals from the new multinationals in Barcelona started to join the teaching staff at the school and EADA was the first business school to implement the well-known case study method introduced by Harvard University in 1929.

The development and growth of the school have gone in hand with its process of internationalisation. EADA started to compete against the best business schools in the world after being accredited by EQUIS and AMBA and by improving its position in the major international rankings, especially that published by the Financial Times - currently considered to be the most prestigious global ranking – in which EADA is ranked among the top 25 business schools in Europe. Membership of these accrediting organisations also demonstrates EADA’s compliance with the highest standards of excellence and reinforces its commitment to responsible and sustainable management education.

This progressive internationalisation and expansion process would not have taken place without the countless strategic partnerships with schools from all over the world, such as CENTRUM Graduate Business School (Peru), Mannheim Business School (Germany), Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), Universidad del Rosario (Colombia), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), Shanghai International Studies University (China) or École des Ponts Business School (France). This process was also aided by the International Advisory Board, which includes doctorate holders from our faculty team who help to set up new alliances around the world and internationalise the Board of Trustees of the EADA Foundation. 

In recent years, EADA has furthered its commitment to online master’s programmes, from the launch of the Online MBA in alliance with the Catalan Open University (UOC) in 2018 to today’s current course offering of 14 online master’s degrees. Similarly, the launch in 2017 of the Master in Sustainable Business & Innovation, one of the first master’s degrees in Europe, marked the beginning of EADA’s commitment to sustainability from the triple perspective of economy, society and environment. This commitment has resulted in recognition for EADA in the Positive Impact Rating as one of the most transforming schools in the world, with new alliances with some of the relevant organisations of systemic change (such as Ashoka or B Lab) as well as the creation of the Sustainability Hub, which is the centre that brings together research, training and impact-generating activities in sustainability that EADA promotes, either on its own or as part of an alliance.

In addition, as of 2018, EADA has increased its area of Fundraising with a grant and scholarship programme aimed at providing access to training for people who lack resources. This programme includes the Larson - Torras Scholarship for female entrepreneurs from Africa, the employability scholarships for collectives affected by the pandemic, corporate talent scholarships or the recently launched Irene Vázquez Scholarship which promotes female entrepreneurial talent in the field of culture. All of these initiatives are part of the EADA Fund for Positive Impact, which was set up in 2020 and has already awarded over 100 scholarships.

According to David Parcerisas, son of EADA’s co-founder Irene Vázquez and President of the Board of Trustees until 2019, “this is why EADA continues to be a leader in the educational, business and corporate world,” adding that, “the institution that started out as a small consulting company is now an internationally recognised business school with positions in the most prestigious global rankings and accreditations from the major certifying bodies for training excellence. The EADA of today is the result of the effort by all those who have worked at the school since 1957.”