Hôtel Saint-Jean and the Dalbade district in Toulouse (1678). Main facade of the school at the beginning of the century.
1903
L’École Supérieure de Commerce is recognized by the state
About thirty students entered the École Supérieure de Commerce de Toulouse on October 15, 1902 and it was recognized by the State on March 27, 1903.
At the time, the school was located in the Hôtel des Hospitaliers de Saint-Jean-de-Jérusalem in the center of Toulouse.
In the front row, the two founders of the school: the President of the Board of Directors and Maurice Houques Fourcades, Director, in the presence of Franck Courtois de Viçose, President of the Chamber of Commerce (CCI).
In 1928, only eight girls were present, among about forty students.
1915
The school welcomes its first two female students
Renée Cède and Antoinette Subsol were the first two women to graduate from the École Supérieure de Commerce. The girls were systematically placed in the first row and were given specific times for study, as they were forbidden to mix with the boys.
Some of the girls in the gray grocery blouse remember: “Between classes, in the “girls’ cage”, a small room without windows, we found ourselves isolated from the male population. [We girls were sensitive to this latent discrimination, asking ourselves questions about the professional future that could be ours, once we had our diplomas. With a few exceptions, we knew that the notable merchants of Toulouse saw in us secretaries of very superior quality, but not first-rate collaborators.
— Jeanne Rouquet (class of 1939)
Ball at the Chamber of Commerce in 1929.
1929
500 alumni are listed
The Alumni Association, created at the time of the first graduating classes, played an active role, and through the first yearbook published in 1930, 500 members were registered with the Association in April 1929.
If there is a major event the Association, it was the ball of commerce, here is the publication in the newsletter of 1930:
“Sunday, February 19, 5 am: our ball has just ended. To tell the truth, no one in the room had realized that the hour was so late… or early, as the crowd was still large and the dancers full of enthusiasm. […] The “Bal du Commerce” is more and more followed and is one of the most elegant and cheerful of the Toulouse season.
It was only after almost heroic efforts that the dance lovers managed to make their way to the middle of the hall. Two jazz and tango orchestras, which took turns without interruption, allowed them to indulge in their frolics. If the ball always took place in the magnificent room of the Commercial Museum that the Chamber of Commerce had, as the previous years, obligingly put at our disposal, on the other hand one had tried to modify the kind of the orchestra… After midnight the distribution of balloons and a magnificent cotillion in the school colors (orange) was followed by a wild dance.
Barricades were erected in Toulouse in August 1944.
1939
Beginning of the Second World War
The school was partially requisitioned, but managed to continue its academic year. In 1943, Jean Pradès, director of the ESC, protected resistance fighters and concealed from the authorities the presence in the school of many students of age to join the STO (Obligatory Labor Service).
Pierre Madaule (class of 1943) testifies: “I opposed the occupier very early on […] I became a soldier in the P.C.R.A. in August 1942 and began a life as an underground.
From Matabiau to Dijon, at each station, at the head of a human pyramid I sang the Marseillaise and organized a network of correspondents in each car.
Parked in a barracks by the Germans on arrival, I was able to organize the escape to Paris of about forty draft dodgers, using free transport vouchers as legally as possible and in full view of the enemy. Afterwards, I carried out several clandestine missions and was the departmental delegate when I was arrested, beaten up and sent to the camps until the liberation”.
Very early on, the tradition of hazing was part of the integration of students.
1949
Creation of the 1rst Association
At the beginning of the 50’s, there was a real explosion of extracurricular activities, notably thanks to the appearance of the first association, the “corpo”, i.e. the students’ association.
Initially created to allow the organization of group outings, so-called folklore events and other distractions, it quickly became an organization representing the students vis-à-vis the school management and other student organizations.
One of the first missions of the “corpo” was to inculcate the spirit of the school in the newcomers through a “hazing” that caused panic among the newcomers and joy among the old.
Once introduced into the big family, the “corpo” helped the newcomer: it was in charge of selling second-hand books, grouping purchases, receiving offers of rooms to rent, and organizing numerous events (ski trips, walks in the region, factory visits). It was the driving force behind the Great Night of the School. It also published a small newspaper “le caducée” and managed a hostel which served as a refuge for bridge and music enthusiasts.
Classroom in the 70’s.
1969
Birth of the Junior Entreprise
The introduction of new technologies and the teaching of new subjects require additional space. There is a vain attempt to call “mercatique” what will soon be imposed on all, students and teachers, as marketing. A new discipline, it brought in its wake the notion of management.
In 1969, the creation of the Junior Entreprise, which allowed students to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, laid the foundations for the new entrepreneurial dimension of the training.
Guy Ara (class of ’68), the first permanent professor of marketing in 1973, recalls:
“We started talking about marketing in the mid-60s, and at the end of those the development of consumption helping it was created a real phenomenon. Indeed, we must not forget that this period saw the development of the media, in particular the appearance of television advertising (in 1968) and the changes that came about in distribution with the appearance of hypermarkets (first Carrefour in 1963, first supermarket in Toulouse in 1969) “.
This discipline included courses on distribution and advertising. We talked about AIDAw: Attention Interêt Désir Achat, a whole program!
The façade of the school on boulevard Lascrosses in 1986.
1986
New campus in Toulouse
The lack of space in the premises of the Hotel Saint-Jean has pushed the School to imagine a new campus since 1967. Faced with the growing constraints of modern teaching, the decision was made in 1983 to build a campus in the new business district of Compans-Caffarelli.
In 1986, the building was ready for the start of the school year. The inauguration was attended by Georges Chavanne, Minister of Commerce, Crafts and Services, as well as Dominique Baudis, Mayor of Toulouse, and Lionel Jospin, Member of Parliament for the Haute-Garonne. Proof that, like eighty-three years earlier, the École Supérieure de Commerce has retained its unifying dimension, despite the political differences of the time.
The design of the new buildings was entrusted to Dominique Alet, an architect from Toulouse, who conceived the future site in accordance with its vocation.
The team, composed of local authorities and the dean of Toulouse Business School, poses in front of the new Business School in Marrakech.
1987
Opening of the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Marrakech, in Morocco
For Jacques Aïn, Director of the school from 1979 to 1998, “we need to reach out more and more beyond our national borders. The school became international with the inauguration of the Marrakech site on November 2, 1987.
1987 was also the year of the inauguration of the Toulouse Entiore campus.
In 2001, the school opened a campus in Casablanca.
A new campus is planned for 2024.
The school was located at Carrer de Trafalgar in Barcelona, Spain.
1995
Creation of the Escuela Superior Europea de Comercio (ESEC) in Barcelona
This school is opened in collaboration with the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Barcelona.
In September 2022, a new Barcelona campus will open its doors, tripling its surface area and accommodating 1,200 students in innovative facilities designed to promote well-being and enhance the student experience.
The campus is located in one of Europe’s largest urban development projects: 22@, a 200-hectare area that used to be an industrial zone but has become the epicenter of the knowledge economy since 2000, with more than 4,500 companies located there.
Graduation of the Bachelor program.
2001
Obtained 3 major accreditations
In 2001, the school obtained EQUIS accreditation, then AMBA accreditation in 2002 and AACSB accreditation in 2003!
TBS Education is part of the very closed circle of triply accredited global business schools.
A worldwide reference for higher education, the accreditations are delivered by independent international organizations, after several years of audits and controls based on very demanding standards.
These three labels guarantee the academic excellence of our programs and the recognition of our diplomas throughout the world.
The School is attached to the 15th.
2005
Opening of a campus in Paris
The school is expanding and now offers courses in the heart of the French capital: Paris.
Start of the 2022 academic year: TBS Education continues its development in Paris with a new campus at 13, rue Saint Lambert, in the 15th arrondissement.
This new 5,000 m² campus, housed in a former Parisian high school, offers bright classrooms, workrooms, a documentation center, an incubator/coworking space, a documentation center and 2 lecture halls.
All of this is organized around a tree-lined courtyard of nearly 1,000 square meters to provide students with a quiet space, but also open to festive and cultural events.
Students enjoying the good life of Toulouse.
2021
The school becomes a Business for Good
This approach confirms the school’s social, societal and environmental commitments. It wishes to contribute to a more sustainable and responsible economy in order to serve a positive society.
2021 is also an important year for the School as it changes its visual identity and name! Toulouse Business School becomes TBS Education.
The School is 120 years old!
2023
120 years of knowledge
120 years ago, our institution officially became a business school recognized by the Ministry of Education.
Since our founding in 1903, we have seen our school and our teaching evolve, but we have always maintained our commitment to academic excellence.
At TBS Education, we believe in the value of knowledge and lifelong learning. Our history gives us the legitimacy and experience to train a diversity of open-minded and enlightened people who can contribute to a responsible and sustainable economy in their organizations.
Thank you to all those who have contributed to making TBS Education an internationally renowned school!
New campus in Compans-Caffarelli in downtown Toulouse.
2026
A new campus in the heart of Toulouse
TBS Education is preparing its future with the opening of its future campus behind Compans-Caffarelli in the center of Toulouse in September 2026.
