There are 19 French universities in the Global Employability University Ranking 2025, designed by the HR consultancy Emerging and published exclusively by Times Higher Education. The ranking reveals which universities recruiters at top companies think are the best at preparing students for the workplace.
The grandes écoles – elite French institutions set up to produce civil servants and businesspeople – do particularly well in the employability ranking.
Business schools also feature prominently, including ESSEC Business School and EDHEC Business School. The majority of universities on the list are located in Paris.
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Top three universities in France for graduate employability
1. CentraleSupélec
In 2015, the merger of two of France’s leading engineering universities led to the creation of CentraleSupélec.
The two schools that formed CentraleSupélec were the École Centrale Paris and the École Supérieure d’Electricité. Over the years, both schools had gained an international reputation for excellence in their fields, and their graduates were some of the highest-earning in France.
2. HEC Paris
HEC Paris is an international business school set up in 1881 by the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The university’s flagship course is a master’s in management. The institution also offers 11 specialised MSc programmes and a PhD programme.
Notable alumni include Louis Dreyfus, chairman of the newspaper Le Monde; Jean-Paul Agon, CEO of L’Oréal; and René Proglio, chairman of Morgan Stanley France.
3. Institut Polytechnique de Paris
The Institut Polytechnique de Paris is a public higher education and research institution made up of five engineering graduate schools in Paris.
These schools include École Polytechnique, ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, Telecom Paris and Telecom SudParis.
The school was established in 2019. It teaches classes in 10 different academic disciplines, including biology, economics, physics, literature and languages, and data and artificial intelligence, among others.
Top universities in France for graduate employability 2025
Click each institution to view its full World University Rankings 2025 results
| France Employability Rank 2025 | Global Employability Rank 2025 | Global Employability Rank 2024 | University | City/town |
| 1 | 20 | 19 | CentraleSupélec - Paris Saclay University | Paris |
| 2 | 22 | 22 | HEC Paris | Paris |
| 3 | 26 | 28 | Ecole Polytechnique - Institut Polytechique de Paris | Paris |
| 4 | 42 | 44 | EMLyon Business School | Lyon |
| 5 | 48 | 50 | Sorbonne University | Paris |
| 6 | 50 | 65 | Université Paris-Saclay | Paris |
| 7 | 51 | 52 | Mines ParisTech - PSL University | Paris |
| 8 | 53 | 63 | ESCP Business School | Paris |
| 9 | 55 | 58 | EDHEC Business School | Paris |
| 10 | 57 | 57 | ESSEC Business School | Cergy |
| 11 | 72 | 74 | Ecole normale supérieure Paris-Saclay - Paris Saclay University | Paris |
| 12 | 106 | 120 | Arts et Métiers | Paris |
| 13 | 135 | 144 | École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Institut Polytechnique de Paris | Paris |
| 14 | 138 | 141 | Paris Dauphine University - PSL University | Paris |
| 15 | 197 | 217 | Ecole Centrale de Lyon | Lyon |
| 16 | 212 | 215 | Télécom Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris | Paris |
| 17 | 221 | 223 | Aix-Marseille University | Marseille |
| 18 | 232 | NR | Montpellier University | Montpellier |
| 19 | 233 | 240 | Université Grenoble Alpes | Grenoble |
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