EADA - For professionals with a responsible and sustainable vision
EADA is the Business School that trains and educates business professionals in what really matters: growing profitable businesses while contributing to generating a positive impact on the world and society.
EADA is the first business school in Barcelona, created in 1957 by a group of businessmen and professionals as an independent institution, both from an ideological and economic point of view. Since 1984, EADA has been a private, non-profit foundation dedicated to training, applied research and the transfer of knowledge to the business world and society in an international context.
For more than 65 years, our institution has been governed by the values of equality, independence, personal development, academic excellence and global vision that have characterised it.
EADA is the business school that trains and educates business professionals in what really matters: growing profitable businesses while contributing to generating a positive impact on the world and society.
Today, EADA is recognised by the most important international rankings such as the Financial Times and The Economist and has the EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation, awarded by the EFMD -European Foundation for Management Development-, as well as AMBA, which recognises the quality of MBA programmes.
Our organisation has the Board of Trustees as its highest governing body.
A journey through our history
EADA was founded in a small office in Barcelona. Over time, it became an independent training institution that still retains the values of tolerance, critical spirit, effort and commitment that characterised its creation.
EADA implemented the “learning by doing” methodology, approaching the multinational companies that set up in Barcelona in the 1970s to introduce innovation in teaching and the expertise of teachers. Using the famous “case method”, implemented by Harvard in 1929, for the first time, the participant becomes the centre of the learning process.
Coinciding with the creation of the first language department, the launch of the first Executive MBA in 1979 and the incorporation of tailor-made programmes, EADA gained recognition as a great business school.
In 1981, EADA became a business school structured along the lines of other international schools, maintaining the values that characterised its foundation: “The place where business people grow.”
EADA made a great leap forward on an international level and expanded its portfolio with new training programs focused on market demands: specialised masters (1993) and full-time MBA (1994).
The institution received the EQUIS international accreditation for the first time (1999), the most prestigious in the world, which ratifies compliance with the quality standards of training programs.
Since its inception, EADA has fostered independent thinking through academic freedom and respect for people, diversity and democratic values. Furthermore, since its foundation, Irene Vázquez ensured that these achievements were obtained through the ideological and financial independence of the institution. For these reasons, it was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2003, the Medal for Work President Macià or the Award for Entrepreneurial Women awarded by the International Foundation for Entrepreneurial Women (FIDEM).
EADA obtained the accreditation of AMBA (Association of MBAs) and the Financial Times recognised it among the top 50 business schools in Europe in 2006.
During the second decade, the first Global MBA is launched, the current EADA logo is created, the EADA-UOC agreement is signed to launch the best online MBA in Spanish, the Master in Sustainability is launched (a pioneer in Spain and Europe in this field), and finally, EADA inaugurates its new Barcelona Campus, completely renovated after 3 years of work.
This is the decade of EADA's consolidation among the best business schools in the world, with recognition in the most prestigious international rankings and new strategic alliances with institutions around the world.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, EADA fully implements the Immersive Learning methodology, which allows participants to continue their training in any circumstance and place.
In addition, EADA is recognised in the new global rating of the best business schools FOR the world, the Positive Impact Rating -PIR.
In 2022, EADA launches its first Degree in Business Administration/Global BBA and creates its second urban campus in Barcelona to welcome students of these programs by expanding its offer with a new Degree in Business and Artificial Intelligence.
EADA strengthens its commitment to sustainability through its training offer, the research carried out in this area, the creation of a sustainability department, led by the CSO, and a brand repositioning anchored in the new baseline that accompanies the logo and the Leading what matters manifesto.