27 September 2004: Opening of the Torino Campus

After the merger with ESCP, Turin was selected in 2002, because of the strong partnership with the University of Turin and the Chamber of Commerce of Turin, institutional structures (Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CRT, ITP Invest in Turin and Piedmont, the Municipality of Turin, the Employers’ Association of Turin and the Polytechnic of Turin) and prestigious firms (such as Lavazza, Martini & Rossi, Accenture, FNAC Italia, Lazard & Co, Hutchinson and Fiditalia,) that immediately supported the establishment of the Italian campus.

At that time, in Italy

At that time, in Italy, Universities had little connections with the business world, and it was a peculiarity of the Turin Campus to be supported by the major local companies. Their interest was driven by the idea of fertilizing the Italian economy with international talents (students and professors) and training Italian talents for international careers.

So, in the Fall of 2004 the first academic year at the ESCP Turin Campus started at Skillab, a company lab hosted by the Unione Industriale di Torino (the Employers’ Association of Turin).

Students and Collaborators

There were only 37 students: 20 in the Master in Management and 17 in the Master in European Business programme (now the MBA in Master in Management).

Six collaborators, including the Dean, Associate Professor Roberto Quaglia, staffed the Campus which was chaired by Prof. Daniele Ciravegna of the University of Turin.

In 2005

In 2005, besides the existing dual degree agreement with the University of Turin, a new partnership was signed between ESCP and the Politecnico di Torino. The agreement provided for the awarding by the Turin Polytechnic of the Master's Degree in Management Engineering to students from Italian Engineering Faculties enrolled in the Master in Management programme, and since that academic year, the courses in Turin take place on the premises of the Economics Department of Turin University.

In 2018

In 2018, after a long accreditation process started in April 2017, ESCP obtained its recognition as a foreign University by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. At the beginning of the 2018-2019 academic year, the Turin Campus became the third academic centre of the Piedmontese capital, and was allowed to award Bachelor and Master’s degrees.

>The growth of the Turin Campus

The growth of the Turin Campus, in terms of numbers of students and of staff, has been exponential in the last few years. As ESCP in Turin aims to welcome a cohort of 800 students within the next 5-6 years, a new building will be rented and renovated for a total surface of roughly 5,500 sqm.

And Jean-Joseph Garnier

As history sometimes has stunning detours, in 1850, Jean-Joseph Garnier, a graduate and professor of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, already made history in Turin: supported by Adolphe Blanqui, he founded in Turin… the first business school in Italy.

Do you believe in coincidence?