Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The evening of November 25, 2025, which brought together more than 600 donors, volunteers, corporate sponsors, alumni, and many other members of the community following the event online, symbolically marked a major new milestone in the life of HEC Paris.
It was indeed an ambitious goal that Jean-François Palus (H.84), the new President of the HEC Foundation, announced for the School’s new fundraising campaign: €300 million to be raised by 2031, the year HEC will celebrate its 150th anniversary. But, as Jean-François Palus reminded us, “being a donor is not about paying a tax on memories; on the contrary, it is about committing to the future, ensuring the School’s long-term ability to nurture a community bound together by the knowledge and mindset that define our identity.”
Beyond the launch of the campaign itself, this moment represents a significant turning point for HEC — a moment of transformation, of course for the campus, but above all a strategic shift aimed at mobilizing the entire HEC ecosystem in service of society at large. This is the ambition of the HEC Campus of the Future campaign. More than 60 years after HEC Paris moved to Jouy-en-Josas to build its visionary “American-style campus,” the time has once again come to rethink the School, rebuild it, and propel it into the future.
Given the magnitude of the challenges ahead, HEC Dean Éloïc Peyrache called for a renewed sense of responsibility — not merely to “support the School,” but to “shape the best possible vehicle for generating massive societal impact.” He outlined the School’s strategic directions and highlighted several projects already underway:
In a context of growing distrust of science, HEC’s first responsibility is to bring clarity to public debate. A new structure, HEC Institute, brings together the School’s centers and institutes (S&O, Family Business Center, IEI, etc.) to coordinate all knowledge production, while a new media platform, the HEC Media Hub, will disseminate this work to the wider community and beyond.
HEC will continue to play a leading role in advancing social mobility, not only by transforming the lives of its own students but also by supporting individuals who will never hold an HEC degree — such as high school students trained in public speaking, or the thousands of women empowered through the HEC Stand Up entrepreneurship program.
Finally, the School will continue to combine knowledge and entrepreneurship. To address climate, geopolitical, and technological challenges, we must understand them through rigorous academic programs, but we must also design solutions and accelerate their deployment.
Two-thirds of the funds raised through the campaign will support these research, teaching, and equal opportunity initiatives. The remaining third will be dedicated to reinventing the campus, scheduled for completion in 2031.
The conference allowed guests to explore the vision of this ambitious future campus and to discover the project’s spirit and architectural details through presentations and conversations with the architects. Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, of the Snøhetta agency, explained the philosophy behind the design of the campus core: ensuring coherence with the site’s values, particularly through the central building, “which functions as a connector, like a hand with five fingers, designed to link together all elements of the campus: the historic buildings, the surrounding nature, and the diverse communities that inhabit it.”
Meanwhile, Lucie Niney, from the NeM agency responsible for the lower-campus design, shared her committed vision of creating a dialogue between new construction and restoration: the new buildings will follow bioclimatic architectural principles, while the existing buildings will undergo a transformation into a true “architectural palimpsest.” All of which, according to Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman of the Board, will offer future students “the most beautiful business school in the world.” He emphasized that the final choice was unanimous, given the project’s truly “iconic” architectural signature.
To learn more about the campaign: https://campusofthefuture.hec.fr/en
The evening of November 25, 2025, which brought together more than 600 donors, volunteers, corporate sponsors, alumni, and many other members of the community following the event online, symbolically marked a major new milestone in the life of HEC Paris.
It was indeed an ambitious goal that Jean-François Palus (H.84), the new President of the HEC Foundation, announced for the School’s new fundraising campaign: €300 million to be raised by 2031, the year HEC will celebrate its 150th anniversary. But, as Jean-François Palus reminded us, “being a donor is not about paying a tax on memories; on the contrary, it is about committing to the future, ensuring the School’s long-term ability to nurture a community bound together by the knowledge and mindset that define our identity.”
Beyond the launch of the campaign itself, this moment represents a significant turning point for HEC — a moment of transformation, of course for the campus, but above all a strategic shift aimed at mobilizing the entire HEC ecosystem in service of society at large. This is the ambition of the HEC Campus of the Future campaign. More than 60 years after HEC Paris moved to Jouy-en-Josas to build its visionary “American-style campus,” the time has once again come to rethink the School, rebuild it, and propel it into the future.
Given the magnitude of the challenges ahead, HEC Dean Éloïc Peyrache called for a renewed sense of responsibility — not merely to “support the School,” but to “shape the best possible vehicle for generating massive societal impact.” He outlined the School’s strategic directions and highlighted several projects already underway:
In a context of growing distrust of science, HEC’s first responsibility is to bring clarity to public debate. A new structure, HEC Institute, brings together the School’s centers and institutes (S&O, Family Business Center, IEI, etc.) to coordinate all knowledge production, while a new media platform, the HEC Media Hub, will disseminate this work to the wider community and beyond.
HEC will continue to play a leading role in advancing social mobility, not only by transforming the lives of its own students but also by supporting individuals who will never hold an HEC degree — such as high school students trained in public speaking, or the thousands of women empowered through the HEC Stand Up entrepreneurship program.
Finally, the School will continue to combine knowledge and entrepreneurship. To address climate, geopolitical, and technological challenges, we must understand them through rigorous academic programs, but we must also design solutions and accelerate their deployment.
Two-thirds of the funds raised through the campaign will support these research, teaching, and equal opportunity initiatives. The remaining third will be dedicated to reinventing the campus, scheduled for completion in 2031.
The conference allowed guests to explore the vision of this ambitious future campus and to discover the project’s spirit and architectural details through presentations and conversations with the architects. Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, of the Snøhetta agency, explained the philosophy behind the design of the campus core: ensuring coherence with the site’s values, particularly through the central building, “which functions as a connector, like a hand with five fingers, designed to link together all elements of the campus: the historic buildings, the surrounding nature, and the diverse communities that inhabit it.”
Meanwhile, Lucie Niney, from the NeM agency responsible for the lower-campus design, shared her committed vision of creating a dialogue between new construction and restoration: the new buildings will follow bioclimatic architectural principles, while the existing buildings will undergo a transformation into a true “architectural palimpsest.” All of which, according to Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman of the Board, will offer future students “the most beautiful business school in the world.” He emphasized that the final choice was unanimous, given the project’s truly “iconic” architectural signature.
To learn more about the campaign: https://campusofthefuture.hec.fr/en
