recent emergence of real estate education in French business schools: The paradox of the French experience, The

Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education, 2003 by Nappi-Choulet, Ingrid

Executive Summary. The international boom-bust property cycle of the mid 1980s has given rise to changes in the French real estate world in the last three years. New openings and new careers have emerged-asset manager, facilities manager or property consultant. Moreover, these developments have spawned new real estate education programs in some French business schools. It is the specific nature of the French context that helps explain the late emergence of such courses. The paradox is that despite a long tradition in France in urban management and in real estate education centered on law studies, no real estate business, financial or economic courses have been forthcoming until recently.

Introduction

Since the mid-1990s, the economic and financial consequences in France of the unprecedented international boom-bust property cycle have been new job creations and opportunities such as asset managers, facilities managers or property consultants in the real estate field. As a result, new real estate education programs have been launched in some of the country's business schools in the last three years. Although these business school courses, built around economics and finance as they apply to real estate features, are still few and far between, they have been very successful. The French context is in fact specific and particular, which explains, to a certain extent, why such initiatives have been taken at such a late date. The context also accounts for the small number of these new courses in comparison to other European countries.

This article presents the specific characteristics of French real estate education and training. In particular, it attempts to explain why such courses have taken so long to be introduced and why people were not aware of the new opportunities sooner. The first part details the main historical and structural reasons why real estate education did not previously exist in French business schools and the state of existing real estate and urban education in France. The second part explains the new context in which real estate education programs have emerged in some business schools in France and describes some of these new programs.

Features of the French Real Estate Education System

France has a very famous heritage in urban management. The works of Baron Haussmann in the nineteenth century and his model of large avenues and renovation of inner-centers is not the only example renowned internationally. Also well known are the urban theories of Le Corbusier in the twentieth century and the construction of new-towns in the Paris Region, like Marne-la-Vallee, where Disneyland-Paris is located. Similarly, urban management education, at both the graduate and postgraduate level or in the form of programs, have been run for a long time in France by both universities, town planning institutes and some business schools.

Types of Real Estate Education in France

Paradoxically, despite this proven savoir-faire in town planning and urban management, no initial or graduate training in real estate business, finance or economics has been developed by universities, which is not the case as far as courses in urban management are concerned. Furthermore, only a very small number of business schools have addressed this field at all.

While real estate business education is not yet as well developed in France as it is in Great Britain, where the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has taken the initiative in promoting many real estate business education programs in both universities and business schools, France has concentrated on developing numerous training programs in law. The specific real estate programs in law are now widespread and offered by almost all French universities. Also, some graduate law facilities have been created to promote real estate law education. Similar developments have taken place in other European countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain, where real estate is only studied as part of a law program.

To understand the paradox, one only has to consider the three types of real estate training and education that different types of institutions have offered in France. The first type of real estate education is an urban and architectural one provided in urban management programs offered by town-planning institutes, architecture schools and universities. Real estate is not taught at all as a specific subject, however no specific real estate finance, economics or business material is offered in these programs. The courses concentrate mainly on town planning or are architectural in nature. They typically focus on urban management or real estate law, but never on real estate finance.

The second type of education is provided by some high level public engineering schools, called Grandes Ecoles,1 such as the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (a top engineering school), or the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (CNAM). Here the courses are mostly of a technical nature. They deal more with building itself and the building industry rather than with actual real estate business.