ESADE has announced a record revenue total for 2016-2017 academic year, according to the recently audited and published annual accounts – following their approval by the board. At the end of the last academic year, ESADE received €103 million in revenue and announced a net profit of €8 million, which is a record for the university.

ESADE broke the €100m barrier for the first time after increasing revenue by 5%. Eugenia Bieto, general director of ESADE, announced that she was very satisfied with the results and attributed the results to ‘the commitment for excellence and the quality of our programmes – given that ESADE has been investing in innovation for many years as a long-term strategy’.

The result is explained by increased enrolment in the vast majority of ESADE programmes – from undergraduate degrees in business and law, Master of Science degrees, MBAs, or the wide range of executive training programmes. In addition, in a favourable economic climate, ESADE has continued controlling spending and encouraging internal synergies.

Eugenia Bieto, in a communication published in the annual accounts, listed the three main priorities for the reinvestment of profits: ‘the preparation of new teaching spaces and methodologies, lecturers and digitalisation’.

‘Rambla of Innovation’ opens in April

The future ‘Rambla of Innovation’, located on ESADE’s international Sant Cugat campus, will include up to five laboratories for experimentation and learning, with numerous technical features that will enable the application of innovative educational techniques to encourage entrepreneurship and innovative processes. Its opening is scheduled for April. For ESADE’s general director: ‘It is necessary to undertake projects that give ESADE campuses the best spaces and resources for applying the educational methodologies best suited to technological and social changes’.

Another priority is reinforcement of teaching staff. During the 2017-2018 academic year, the pace of hiring new lecturers, most with international experience or specialised in new areas of knowledge, will continue and resources will be invested to support teaching excellence.  

Finally, a large percentage of investment during the current course will be for new digitisation projects and the implementation of the ‘Student First’ educational strategy. Newly launched programmes at ESADE are also noteworthy: the ‘Journey for a Business Transformation’ programme, launched in Silicon Valley with the collaboration of the Singularity University, or the executive training programme ‘Global Sports Management’, in partnership with FCBARCELONA and to be held in Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Barcelona.