The phrase “If you build it, they will come”, adapted from the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, may resonate with Léon Laulusa, executive president and dean of ESCP Business School.

He is on a building spree, with ESCP investing €300mn to renovate and expand its six European campuses. The sum includes a €150mn upgrade of its historic Paris campus, and €70mn that is earmarked for buying a new campus in Madrid, where the school already operates.

“We are investing to increase capacity in response to a rise in demand for our programmes and to renovate our campuses to enhance the learning experience,” explains Laulusa, who joined ESCP in 1999 as a professor and took the helm last year.

The 200-year-old business school, which also has campuses in Berlin, London, Turin and Warsaw, has enjoyed increases in applications over the past five years — ranging from an 11 per cent rise in 2019 to 20 per cent this year, bucking a wider downturn. Student numbers are projected to grow from 10,000 today to 12,000 by 2030.

Its planned campus upgrades also include energy management systems and technology to improve efficiency and support ESCP’s sustainability goals.

“International student mobility is highly sought after and forms part of the enriching experience of encountering another culture,” Laulusa says. “However, it can also increase their carbon footprint.”

ESCP’s plans are part of a broader move among European business schools to expand their physical footprints, even as global demand for business masters programmes stagnates after booming during the Covid pandemic. Much of the recent infrastructure spending has been focused on European campuses, but there has also been a flurry of overseas investments.

In July, IE University of Spain acquired a campus in New York and the right to award US degrees. IE plans to offer masters programmes in business and sustainability and invest $18mn over five years at the new school, named IE New York College.

“IENYC will provide opportunities to students from across the globe to live, study and work upon graduation in the US,” says Diego del Alcázar, chief executive of IE University.

Audencia Business School in Nantes, France, is also looking to the benefits of international collaboration. The school has struck new partnerships with institutions in Brazil, bringing the total to four. From this year, students from Audencia can take courses focused on environmental and social impact at Fecap in São Paulo, Fundação Dom Cabral in Belo Horizonte, FAE Business School in Curitiba, and Cesupa in Belém.

“These collaborative campuses allow us to offer our students a rich cultural and educational experience,” says Sébastien Tran, Audencia’s dean.

Florent Verzotti, who enrolled in the Master in Management programme at Audencia between 2022-24, spent a few months studying at Fecap in São Paulo last year and found he developed a broader, more international perspective on management, understanding the cultural and professional differences in South America.

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“The challenges faced by this type of region are quite different from European concerns,” he says, in terms of socio-economic and environmental issues.

This wave of campus expansions appears to be driven partly by a desire to boost competitive positioning and partly to support sustainability goals. Edhec Business School, in France, is investing €112mn between 2024 and 2028 to enhance two of its three campuses: Lille and Nice. Edhec plans to create new learning spaces and reduce energy consumption, aiming to improve student experiences and remain competitive.

“Students today are looking for excellence in all aspects of the higher-education experience, and campus life is definitely a part of this experience,” says Emmanuel Métais, dean at Edhec.

Andrew Crisp, an education consultant, notes that European business schools are not alone in expanding their global presence. China Europe International Business School (Ceibs), founded in Shanghai, has established campuses in Ghana (2008) and Switzerland (in 2015); India’s SP Jain School of Global Management established a London campus in 2023; and Australian universities Deakin and Wollongong both opened campuses in India this year.

Matt Symonds, co-founder and director at Fortuna Admissions, which advises business school applicants, highlights the renewed appetite for in-person learning after the pandemic imposed remote study on many students. “The significant investment that many schools have made in new or enhanced campuses with sophisticated classroom technology looks to be justified,” he notes.

But, while the expansion of multi-campus operations offers academic advantages, it also presents logistical challenges. Insead, established in 1957 in Fontainebleau, near Paris, has opened campuses in Singapore, Abu Dhabi and San Francisco. More than half of Insead’s 1,300 degree-programme students go on a campus exchange annually.

“The logistics involved is a massive co-ordination across our local teams,” says Francisco Veloso, dean at Insead since last year. Digital tools like Zoom and Teams play a crucial role in facilitating collaboration between the campuses.

Students such as Leon Bender, who is enrolled in the Master in Management programme at ESCP, appreciate the opportunities that multi-campus studies offer. Bender, who began his degree in Paris with specialised classes in London, Berlin and, soon, Madrid, acknowledges the initial organisation required for each move was “overwhelming”, as was breaking the ice with new peers.

But the experience is invaluable, he believes. “As a young student, stepping out of your comfort zone is one of the best ways to learn and grow.”