New DBA on Upgrad by ESGCI

[smartdegree]

I spoke with my boss who is originally from Paris and graduated from EDHEC. She explained to me how accreditation works for business schools. She says some business schools are considered professional education and not academic education and thus are accredited through a separate system for vocational and professional qualifications.

I did some googling and here's a great explanation of this parallel professional education system, including how the qualifications work:
https://www.culture.gouv.fr/en/Thematic/...ifications
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/J...0037964754

All professional qualifications are accredited, not through the ministry of higher education, but through France Competences, a government body that accredits each professional qualification and lists them in an official registry called the RNCP (Répertoire national des certifications professionnelles).

For the Grandes Ecoles, some of their diploma / degree programs will be accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education, while others will be through the RNCP.

The way to search for accreditation of professional qualifications is to look at the RNCP codes provided by the school and check whether they are accredited by the RNCP.  

For example, for ESCP's MBA in international management:
https://escp.eu/programmes/MBA-in-intern...management
At the bottom of the webpage it says: "This degree, recognised worldwide, is registered on the RNCP (French Register of Professional Certifications) – RNCP sheet 35570."

For HEC Paris another example:
https://www.hec.edu/en/mba-programs/exec...experience
It says "The HEC Paris MBA and EMBA are accredited to grant a Master’s degree under European Standards and, by extension, are registered on RNCP (Répertoire national des certifications professionnelles)."

Clearly you can see the importance of the RNCP as a way of validating government approval of the qualification.  

You can search qualifications in the RNCP through this website:
https://www.francecompetences.fr/recherc...sionnelle/

In the case of ESGCI, the list the RNCP qualification numbers for each qualification on their website:
https://www.esgci.com/marketing-commerce
It says "Titre de Responsable du Développement Commercial délivré par ESGCV-ESGCI, NSF 312 - Niveau 6. Enregistré au RNCP sous le numéro 36610 par décision du Directeur Général de France Compétences du 01/07/2022"

It basically means to look at RNCP code 36610 to verify this qualification with the government.  All you need to do is go to the francecompetences / RNCP website to verify:
https://www.francecompetences.fr/recherc...sionnelle/

In short, ESGCI is not a higher education institution, it is a professional qualification provider with bachelor/master level qualifications that have been accredited by the RNCP.  The confusion lies in how French business schools market these professional qualifications as "masters" even though technically they are not academic masters but masters-level professional qualifications.