Emerging - News Tank ranking: HEC, University Paris-Saclay, and Ecole Polytechnique lead; the University of Technology of Troyes (UTT) receives special award

HEC, the University of Paris-Saclay, and Ecole Polytechnique (IP Paris) occupy the top three positions in the institutional-business cooperation ranking, released by News Tank and Emerging on 06/02/2025 during the Think Education and Research event. The University of Technology of Troyes received a special cooperation award.

The top 10 is completed by Sciences Po Paris (4th), University of Technology of Compiègne (5th), University of Technology of Troyes (6th), Sorbonne University (7th), the University of Montpellier (8th), the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (IP Paris, 9th), and the University of Paris Cité (10th).

The ranking is based on responses from French professionals with significant experience in recruiting and managing young graduates. They were invited to rank institutions according to:

The employability of their graduates.
The quality of the cooperation implemented.

Sixty-eight institutions are featured in this first edition: the top 35 are ranked. The others are only listed due to low voting percentages and tight margins.

"Schools dominate this ranking. This reflects their primary mission: to directly prepare young people for the business world, whether they are engineers or business specialists," says Sandrine Belloc, Managing Director of Emerging.

"One might have thought that a French panel would reverse this trend with respondents working more locally with universities. This is not the case, except for notable exceptions like the University of Paris-Saclay (2nd), which ranks very high and whose creation is an innovation that is already attracting the attention of companies. Similarly, Sorbonne University (7th) and the University of Montpellier (8th) are well-positioned”

Methodology’s ranking ‍

Since 2010, Emerging has produced the GEURS (Global Employability University Ranking and Survey), now exclusively published by Times Higher Education.

In 2024, the firm led by Sandrine Belloc surveyed a specific, exclusively French panel to create a new ranking with News Tank.

Thus, the 1,433 French respondents of the GEURS were approached to identify those involved in collaborations with higher education institutions. A total of 786 were selected to develop the News Tank-Emerging ranking.

A quota method was used to ensure representativeness, discover the complete methodology here.

The questions and the panel‍

The questions asked were:

"Which institutions, in your opinion, best prepare students for the job market in France today?" (for employability).
"Which institutions are the most competent in terms of communication and collaboration with the business world?" (for cooperation).

The list of institutions submitted to voters included 68 institutions, selected based on two criteria:

Institutions ranked in the top 50 of several French rankings.
All French institutions for which Emerging received more than 10 votes over the past three years as part of the GEURS (Global Employability University Ranking and Survey, published by THE) were added.

Respondents were then invited to vote twice: once on the employability question and a second time on the collaboration question. Each respondent had a maximum of 10 choices from the institution list, which remained the same for both questions.

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Elaboration of the ranking ‍

The percentage of votes obtained generates:

An employability sub-ranking;
A collaboration sub-ranking.

The final cooperation ranking is obtained by combining and weighting these two percentages.

To value the quality of cooperation, we allocated 40% of the final result to the employability vote and 60% to the collaboration vote.‍

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The TOP 35 ‍

Discover the complete ranking on this page

Rang	Établissement	Type	Employabilité	Collaboration	Score combiné
1	HEC Paris	Ecole	33,8%	14,6%	22,3%
2	Université Paris-Saclay	Université	15,3%	20,5%	18,4%
3	Polytechnique - Institut Polytechnique de Paris	Ecole	26,1%	13,3%	18,4%
4	Sciences Po Paris	Ecole	24,8%	13,7%	18,2%
5	Université de technologie de Compiègne	Ecole	15,5%	19,9%	18,1%
6	Université de technologie de Troyes	Ecole	13,0%	20,9%	17,7%
7	Sorbonne Université	Université	19,3%	14,4%	16,3%
8	Université de Montpellier	Université	16,1%	16,5%	16,3%
9	École nationale des ponts et chaussées - Institut Polytechnique de Paris	Ecole	19,3%	14,4%	16,3%
10	Université Paris Cité	Université	16,2%	13,1%	14,3%

*Photo of the awards ceremony for the Emerging - News Tank Institutional-business cooperation ranking 2025 | ©Seb Lascoux*

‍A certain idea of French Excellence ‍

The employability sub-ranking is largely dominated by HEC (33.8%) ahead of Polytechnique (26.1%) and Sciences Po (24.8%).

For Sandrine Belloc, "an essential aspect in the votes is brand reputation." Indeed, the employability criterion (which accounts for 40% of the final score) "is largely linked to perceptions and aspirations."

"The great strength of our survey is that the votes present this aspirational aspect, which allows us to identify desired or desirable models. Our analysis for this edition is that respondents wanted to praise models of excellence, schools, and universities perceived as embodying a certain idea of French excellence."

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"French companies can be paradoxical"‍

Sandrine Belloc observes "a global trend that might seem counter-intuitive": "Companies tend to recruit less elitist profiles, in a logic where they then invest heavily in internal continuous training. This results in an increase in the recruitment of bachelor's graduates, who are then trained throughout their careers."

According to the Managing Director of Emerging, "schools that are more responsive and adapted to the challenges of digital and tech are starting to be favored."

Nevertheless, "French companies can be paradoxical: they recruit from more accessible institutions but continue to value in their votes institutions like Polytechnique or HEC, which remain absolute references."

Indeed, graduates from these institutions are versatile and sought after "for their capacity for innovation, strategic vision, ability to integrate into a globalized world, and ability to anticipate major transformations."

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The collaboration criterion offers "a more operational vision" ‍

The collaboration sub-ranking differs significantly, with a first place for UTT - which for this reason receives a special cooperation award at Think Education & Research - ahead of the University of Paris-Saclay and UTC.

More broadly, the top five according to this criterion are Universities of Technology or universities.

Sandrine Belloc explains: "The reputational aspect is less present, in favor of a more operational vision. Indeed, the panel respondents base themselves on real collaborations implemented. However, there are more local collaborations between universities and their economic basin.

When it comes to the actual practice of recruitment, employers collaborate with institutions that train profiles that best meet their immediate needs. Thus, the UTs stand out, for example, as widely recognized and envied models."

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What are the best practices for cooperation in the future?

For Sandrine Belloc, "it is still premature to draw definitive conclusions" from this first ranking.

"Each institution must first assess its current capacities, identify its needs, and align its strengths. Many initiatives already exist and are particularly interesting. Rather than completely reinventing their methods, institutions can draw inspiration from proven best practices and adapt them to their context."

In the meantime, "certain actions remain essential levers: encouraging internships, practical projects, and meetings between students and employers. These measures have proven effective and constitute a solid foundation for strengthening collaboration between higher education and businesses."

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The governance challenge

However, to move towards more strategic and sustainable collaboration, "a step remains to be taken" says Sandrine Belloc. This implies that teams on both sides work together in the long term.

"Today, this model is still insufficiently structured, largely due to a lack of a clear and shared framework. It would be useful to formalize these collaborations through a common reference framework and a system of KPIs (key performance indicators) to measure their impact."

"Universities will need to position themselves and innovate on these issues because companies are accelerating.

In France, 48% of companies that responded to Emerging's ranking already have a team dedicated to cooperation with universities.
They plan to reach 72% by 2027 - a figure that places France in the global average."

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Some opportunities not to miss

Sandrine Belloc warns: "If universities do not meet these expectations, they risk missing essential opportunities. Some warning signs already exist in 2020, a survey revealed that one in two employers considered

While this trend is more pronounced in Anglo-Saxon countries, it deserves consideration, especially considering the rise of alternative training programs.

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Data Available on Companies Through the Surveyed Panel

"Thanks to a fine segmentation of voters, we analyze their perceptions according to their sector, role, level of responsibility, company size, and recruitment frequency," says Sandrine Belloc.

She elaborates: "This approach helps institutions better understand their audience, its expectations, and selection criteria, while identifying group behaviors and recruiter 'personas.'

It thus allows for the establishment of precise benchmarks at local and international levels, enabling institutions to identify key recognition factors and offering them a clear view of their positioning relative to their direct competitors."

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