"Fontainebleau provides good food, lovely countryside and the sorts of fantastic housing opportunities that will not come to students again before the fruition of that lovingly contrived business plan or a decade's worth of struggle in the trenches of corporate warfare."
Tim Gordon, MBA 2000, interviewed by the Financial Times
"It is located, however, in one of Europe's most striking settings: the Fontainebleau forest, 65 kilometers outside Paris, complete with its magnificent chateau. The forest is the former hunting ground of French kings, a place frequented by every French sovereign since the Middle Ages. It's the kind of place where the cab drivers are inclined to give you a brisk historical run through. Passing through the southern suburbs of Paris, our Driver tells us that Napoléon Bonaparte himself frequented the Château.
Back on campus, there's a matter-of-fact realism, a sureness of INSEAD's place in the world..."
Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer for Across the Board
"It's hard to believe you can find such a cosmopolitan, multicultural hub nestled in the French countryside! The place buzzes with accents from around the world and languages you might never have heard - the restaurant or bar area is the quintessential melting pot - where turbans and kimonos blend in with blue jeans & French chic. Weather permitting, people spill out onto the lawns of the campus for informal work meetings, lunch breaks and sometimes class work.
Being literally on the edge of the huge forest of Fontainebleau, we are never short of a tree for shade!
In all, a very open, friendly place - where different cultures are so taken for granted they go virtually unnoticed as we work and mix together on a daily basis.
And with Paris only 45 minutes' drive away, you never feel too cut off from the city life and easy connections home."
Catherine Whelan, Client Manager, INSEAD
"We came with two children and we left with three! There is a great organization for families with activities every day, cooking courses, walking."
Bernard Tubiana, MBA 2000, interviewed by Le Journal Des Grandes Ecoles
