ESMT is a private non-profit business school in Berlin which was founded in 2002. It bills itself as "the business school founded by business", pointing to the list of 25 companies including Bosch, KPMG, Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Lufthansa, McKinsey, Deutsche Post and T-Mobile which were partners in its creation.
As one of the small number of German schools with Triple Crown accreditation, it offers a full range of postgraduate and executive business programmes.
It is part of a German MBA alliance along with Mannheim Business School, one of the other Triple-accredited schools, HHT Leipzig and WHU. Internationally it offers executive MBAs and a master's in public administration in partnership with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar.
Along with academic quality, its pitch to students makes use of the attractions of Berlin, which it describes as "Europe¡¯s most vibrant capital", a centre for entrepreneurship, design and cutting-edge architecture offering exceptional nightlife and a mix of highbrow and alternative culture, but still by the standards of other major cities, comparatively inexpensive.
In its short life, it has created a tradition of memorable buildings. Its Berlin headquarters, in a central location close to the Museum Isle and next to the Foreign Office, is the refurbished former Staatsratgebaude, home to the state council, national ruling body of the German Democratic Republic from 1962 until its demise in 1990.
It also runs executive courses at the Schloss Gratz in Cologne, the former seat of the Metternich family, but announced in May 2018 that it intended to sell the building.
