IESE Business School

IESE Business School is the graduate business school of the University of Navarra. It was started in Barcelona in 1958 by Opus Dei. Since 1963, it has worked together with the Harvard Business School to offer a two-year Master of Business Administration degree. The school also provides two Executive MBAs, along with special master´s degrees in Management and Finance, and courses for executive education.

IESE has campuses in several cities, including Madrid, Munich, New York City, and São Paulo. By 2026, IESE had more than 60,000 graduates from many countries around the world. The school has earned recognition from groups like EQUIS, AACSB, and ANECA. It is often listed among the top five business schools globally, according to rankings by the Financial Times and The Economist.

Campuses

Barcelona

IESE's main campus is in Barcelona, Spain, and has many buildings. This campus offers MBA programs and many courses for business leaders.

Madrid

The Madrid campus started in 1974 and is in Aravaca, a suburb of Madrid. It offers programs like Master in Management, Master in Finance, and Executive MBA.

New York City

IESE opened a campus in Manhattan in 2007. It provides special programs for companies and management training for leaders.

Munich

The Munich campus began in 2015 and is in the center of the city. It focuses on training for business leaders in Germany and Central Europe, offering the Executive MBA and other courses.

São Paulo

Since 2000, IESE has worked with ISE Business School in São Paulo, Brazil. It offers management programs for leaders and the Executive MBA.

Barcelona

Madrid

New York

Munich

São Paulo

Organization

IESE Business School is led by an Executive Committee and a Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board was created in 2023 to help guide important decisions and plans. The Executive Committee takes care of the school's overall strategy, hiring teachers, creating programs, and running daily activities.

There are also two important groups that give advice: the International Advisory Board (IAB) and the Executive Committee of the IESE Alumni Association. The IAB looks at business trends around the world and helps shape the school's programs. Its members are leaders and teachers from many countries, including Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Since 1963, a special committee has met every year with Harvard Business School to discuss international programs.

Programs

IESE Business School focuses on a teaching style called the case method, started by Harvard, used in all its classes. They also use other ways to teach like hands-on learning, coaching, mentoring, and business games. Since 2025, they have placed special attention on artificial intelligence, immersive learning, and lifelong learning. They have created business simulations about managing change, sustainability, and starting new businesses.

IESE offers many degree programs including master’s, MBAs, and doctoral degrees. In the 2024–25 school year, about 1,700 students joined these programs. One popular program is the Master in Management for recent graduates, which includes courses in marketing, finance, strategy, economics, and ethics. There is also a Master in Finance program and two types of MBA programs—one for full-time students and another for experienced professionals. The school also offers special programs for business leaders and online courses on topics like finance, marketing, and strategy.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is very important at IESE Business School. About 30% of students start their own business within five years after finishing their studies. The school helps students learn this through special classes, meetings with successful business people, and research. They also have a network for investors and entrepreneurs and give awards to young leaders under 40.

International alliances and partnerships

Since the late 1950s, IESE has sent teachers to study in the United States and Europe. It has strong partnerships with famous schools like Stanford and MIT.

IESE helped start 15 business schools in different countries. These schools were built with local teachers and workers, including places in Mexico, Argentina, Portugal, Colombia, Nigeria, Ecuador, the Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Ireland.

Research

IESE Business School conducts research in many business areas through special programs with leading companies and foundations such as Abertis, Alcatel-Lucent, Banco Sabadell, CaixaBank, Banco Santander, Nissan, SEAT, Puig, Schneider Electric, and Intent HQ.

Research also happens in different centers led by professors and researchers. Companies and special groups work with these centers, such as the Center for Business in Society and the Center for Innovation Marketing and Strategy. In 2021, IESE started the Institute for Sustainability Leadership to share ideas about green targets, city planning, and money for good causes. In 2023, they began studying how artificial intelligence affects business and its ethical use. In 2025, IESE joined a group of business schools called Business Schools for Climate Leadership to help leaders understand and solve climate problems. The same year, IESE opened the IESE Sports Management Centre with RCD Espanyol de Barcelona to help improve leadership in sports.

Faculty

IESE Business School has 125 full-time teachers from 24 different countries. They teach about important subjects like artificial intelligence, business ethics, and sustainability. Their work is shared in journals, books, and case studies.

Some well-known teachers include Núria Mas, who teaches Economics, and Xavier Vives, a former teacher of Economics and Financial Management. Others include Jordi Canals, who focuses on Strategic Management, and Pankaj Ghemawat, also a teacher of Strategic Management. There are more teachers like Pablo Hernández de Cos and Alfredo Pastor who have also made big contributions to teaching Economics.

Reputation and rankings

IESE Business School has many important certifications. It is approved by groups like the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and other leading organizations in Florida, Brussels, and Spain.

The school is very well known around the world. Its Master of Business Administration program was placed third best in the world in 2025 by the Financial Times. The program for people who already have jobs was also highly ranked, coming in fourth best globally in 2024 and second best in 2025.

Alumni

The first alumni chapter was started in Catalonia in 1961. Soon after, groups were formed in Valencia, Mallorca, and Madrid. Later, chapters opened in Aragon, Andalucia, Galicia, La Rioja, the Basque Country, and Navarre by 1986. The first group outside of Spain was in Argentina and Uruguay in 1986, followed by a group in the United States in 1987. In Poland, especially in Warsaw, there is a large group with 643 members as of 2024.

In 2021, over 5,000 business leaders met at the Madrid campus. In 2025, a big meeting there focused on how artificial intelligence can help businesses, with more than 1,800 leaders attending.

Notable alumni

• Ibukun Awosika, leader at First Bank of Nigeria
• Antonio Brufau Niubó, top leader of the big oil company Repsol
• Lucía Casanueva, founder and leader of Proa Comunicación
• Joan Clos, past mayor of Barcelona
• Francisco García Paramés, past leader of Bestinver
• Cristina Garmendia, past Minister of Science for Spain
• Manel Guillen, business leader, lawyer, and activist
• Marek Kamiński, explorer, writer, and business leader
• Ana Maiques, leader of Neuroelectrics
• Janne Haaland Matláry, Norwegian writer and politician
• Vicente Lopez Ibor Mayor, past leader of Spain’s National Energy Commission
• Diana Mondino, Foreign Minister of Argentina
• Jorge Moreira da Silva, past Minister of Environment for Portugal
• Sheila Mwarangu, engineer
• Hans van der Noordaa, leader at ING Netherlands and ING Group N.V
• Luis Enrique Yarur Rey, leader of Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI)
• Miguel Sanz, past president of the Government of Navarre, Spain
• Rafael Tamames, business leader and writer, founder of Findasense
• Pablo Tovar, management coach and member of Oxford Leadership
• Cristina García-Orcoyen Tormo, politician
• Camille Villar, politician in the Philippines
• Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, leader of Borvar
• Juan Antonio Samaranch, past president of the International Olympic Committee
• Juvencio Maeztu, leader of IKEA
• Toni Ruiz, leader of Mango

History

IESE Business School began in 1958 in Barcelona. Antonio Valero Vicente, its first dean, was helped by Jose María Escriva de Balaguer. Business leaders wanted training with a Christian vision. IESE started its first program for experienced business leaders in 1958-59.

In 1963, IESE worked with Harvard Business School and began offering a Master of Business Administration degree. This was the first time the term "master's" was used in Europe. Later, IESE expanded to Madrid in 1974 and opened more campuses in cities like New York, Munich, and São Paulo.

IESE also supports entrepreneurs and started programs to help with sustainability and the use of artificial intelligence in business.