EMLyon dean Philippe Courtier leaves the school after a year

Philippe Courtier will be leaving the French business school EMLyon this summer after just a year as president (dean). The school says Prof Courtier is leaving for personal reasons.

Prof Courtier, a meteorologist and previously director of a Paris engineering school, took over at EMLyon following the departure of Patrick Molle, who left because of disagreements with the faculty. Prof Molle was president at the school for 16 years and is now Director General of France Business School, a partnership between schools in Amiens, Brest, Clermont-Ferrand, Poitiers and Tours.

Prof Courtier is not the only dean of a French grand école to leave after just a year in office. In May this year Jacques Igalens, a human resources specialist, replaced Pierre Dreux as director (dean) of Toulouse Business School. Prof Dreux, a specialist in nuclear physics, became director at Toulouse in June 2012 following a stint as director of an engineering school in Lyon.

The past year has seen a merry-go-round in deans at the top French business schools. In July 2012 Loïck Roche was promoted to dean at Grenoble Ecole de Management, to replace Thierry Grange, who had been dean there since 2002. And at ESCP Europe, historian Edouard Husson was appointed to the top job in September 2012. On July 1 2013, law professor Jean-Michel Blanquer will replace Pierre Tapie as dean at Essec, another of the top Parisian business schools.

Bruno Bonnell, the current president of EMLyon’s board of governors, will be interim president of the school until a successor is found.

www.em-lyon.com