History

EADA - For professionals with a responsible and sustainable focus.

EADA is the first business school in Barcelona, founded in 1957 by a group of entrepreneurs and professionals as an ideologically and financially independent institution. Since 1984, we have been a non-profit private foundation dedicated to education, applied research and the transfer of knowledge to business and society at an international level.

For over 65 years, our institution has been guided by the values of equality, independence, personal development, academic excellence and a global vision that have characterised it. Today, EADA is recognised by the most prestigious international rankings such as the Financial Times and The Economist, and holds the EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) accreditation awarded by the EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development), as well as the AMBA accreditation, which recognises the quality of our MBA programmes.

  • EADA Barcelona
  • Graduacion
  • Online
  • Collbato
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A journey through our history

1957

In a small office in Barcelona, Irene Vázquez and Arturo Alsina set up an independent training institution, that would later become EADA, and that today still preserves the values of tolerance, critical spirit, effort and commitment that characterised its creation.

1960

EADA introduces the ‘learning by doing’ methodology and starts to contact multinational companies that would later set up offices in Barcelona in the 1970s to present them with innovative teaching methods and expertise. It does this by implementing the famous Case Study Method, first used by Harvard in 1929, which moves the focus from the professor to the student for the first time.

1970

EADA starts to grow into a large business school, coinciding with the creation of its first language department, the launch of the first Executive MBA in 1979 and the introduction of custom programmes.

 

1980

In 1981, EADA becomes a structured business school in line with other international schools while maintaining the values that characterised its foundation: ‘the place where business people grow’.

1990

EADA enters the international arena and extends its portfolio to include new training programmes focused on market requirements: specialised master’s programmes in 1993 and full-time MBA programmes in 1994.

The institution is awarded the EQUIS international accreditation for the first time in 1999; the most prestigious global accreditation that ensures quality standards in training programmes.

2000

Since its inception, EADA has promoted independent thought through academic freedom and respect for people, diversity and democratic values. Furthermore, since the foundation, Irene Vázquez ensured that these achievements were based on the ideological and financial independence of the institution. For these reasons, she was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2003, the President Macià Work Medal or the Entrepreneurial Woman Award granted by the International Entrepreneurial Foundation (FIDEM).

EADA is awarded the AMBA accreditation from the Association of MBAs, and in 2006, the Financial Times includes EADA in its ranking of the top 50 European business schools.

2010

During this time, the Global MBA is launched and the current EADA logo is created; an agreement between EADA and the UOC is also signed to launch the best online MBA in Spanish and finally, EADA inaugurates the new Barcelona campus following 3 years of refurbishment.

Now competing in the premier league of business schools, this is the decade in which EADA consolidates its position among the top business schools in the world. The school improves its position in the major international rankings and sets up new strategic alliances with partner institutions all over the world.

2020

During the pandemic, EADA fully introduces Immersive Learning, a learning methodology adaptable to all formats. EADA launches scholarships and grants for those collectives most affected by the pandemic as part of its the Annual Scholarship Programme. The new world rating of the best business schools FOR the world, the Positive Impact Rating (PIR) ranks EADA among the top global institutions. In 2022, EADA launches its first Bachelor in Business Administration degree (Global BBA) and creates a second urban campus in Barcelona to host the undergraduate students of the BBA as well as its second bachelor programme in Business and Artificial Intelligence. EADA also celebrates its 65th anniversary.