Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (CNAM)

Age: 217

History: With headquarters in Paris, the IIM (CNAM's Business School) offers a full range of postgraduate degrees in management to French or international students and working professionals.

Address: In the centre of the French capital at 2 rue Conté, 75003, Paris (Subway station: Arts et Métiers).

Ambience: “Small is beautiful,” says the institute. CNAM-IIM targets the development of managerial skills, practices and operational excellence for students expecting a senior career. Keywords are life-long education and management.

Vital statistics: Awards 500 postgraduate diplomas in management every year, and last year 100 of these were MBAs. The MBA programme can be taken either part-time (over 24 months) or full-time (over a year), taught in English. The school recently launched an MBA full time in fashion business development and in insurance.

Added value: CNAM educates around 85,000 students annually. The MBA programme includes a four-week multicultural seminar at the University of California in San Bernardino, or at Rai University in Delhi. The IIM is also supported by major companies, including Arcelor-Mittal, EDF, KPMG, L'Oréal, Michelin, Oracle, PSA Peugeot-Citroen, Sanofi-Aventis and Total.

Easy to get into? You'll need at least three years of work experience (most students have more than five) and a proven ability in English. There is also an interview.

Glittering alumni: Rola Nevoux, project manager, France Telecom; Guy Vroman, sales director, Lexmark International; Fabrice Lintanff, information systems manager, HP France; Guilherme Martins, financial manager, PSA Peugeot-Citroen France.

Gurus: Jean Paul Aimetti, a marketing expert who is currently the president of the French Association for Marketing Development; Hervé De la Tour d’Artaise, president of the Association of French Certified Financial Planners (CGPC); Michel Godet, strategic planning; Christian Hoarau, managerial accounting.

International connections: Links with eight universities in China; Rai Business School in India; the University of Bucharest in Romania; the Siberian Federal University and St Petersburg Finance and Economics University in Russia; Odessa State University in Ukraine; the University of California at San Bernardino in the USA.

Student profile: Only half of the students are French, and the average age is 35.

Cost: The MBA is €16,000 including books.

Return on investment: Graduates will have an international portfolio and should be well-qualified for entrepreneurship.

Who's the boss? Martine Carbonel is the director of the school.

Prospectus: +33 1 58 80 87 39; http://iim.cnam.fr; mba@cnam.fr