Graduates wanting to gain the edge in a competitive jobs market may find the answer is to study for a management or finance MSc at a European business school.

Top-ranking European schools are making a determined play to woo more UK students. “British graduates are missing out on some of the best jobs at home and overseas because they are on the whole monolingual,” cautions Leonard Orban, the EU Commissioner for Multilingualism.

The Bologna Accord’s harmonis-ation of UK and European undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications has led to stiffer competition for UK institutions from European universities and business schools, particularly in the lucrative postgraduate market.

Two years ago Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, launched a two-year MSc in general management for graduates from a nonbusiness background. After a first-year introduction to business, second-year modules offer specialisms such as finance, marketing and business strategy. The school’s masters in management is in the Financial Times top ten ranking for Europe.

The blend of EU and overseas students makes Rotterdam’s degree truly international. Only a third of places are kept for Dutch students and classes are taught in English. Adri Meijdam, head of admissions, says: “Students experience a vibrant business culture and the school has triple accreditation by Amba, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the European Quality Improvement System.”

There is an even more compelling attraction. Meijdam adds: “We are a state-funded university and all EU students will pay a flat fee of €1,600 a year (£1,270). Compare that to a top-ranked UK school, where students would pay the equivalent of €22,700.”

The Grenoble Graduate School of Business, which is linked to one of France’s top universities, is another triple-accredited institution. Judith Bouvard, Grenoble’s director, is an English expat. The school’s international faculty teaches in English but foreign students are encouraged to attend two French language classes a week. Bouvard says: “Our MSc is ideal for a student wanting to work for a French multinational company overseas. We have links to big companies and great internships. There are plenty of job opportunities.”

The Grenoble school is in France’s “silicon valley” and boasts close links to the nanotechnology and atomic research industries, as well as to Hewlett-Packard, which has its European base in Grenoble. The school has two established MScs in finance and marketing, both taught in English, and this year launched an MSc in innovation and technology management. Grenoble’s MSc costs €17,000.

Belgium’s Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School, which specialises in entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility, is in the top 20 of the FT rankings. Vlerick’s one-year MSc in finance costs €7,500. Peter Rafferty, director of international business, says the course is subsidised by the Flemish Government irrespective of a student’s nationality. Teaching is in English but students are able to practise a foreign language. Rafferty adds: “We have links to brewing group Inbev (Stella Artois), Volvo and ING bank.” HEC School of Management, in Paris, lists business strategy, human resources and luxury goods as specialisms. The school’s two-year MSc in management is taught entirely in English in the first year and offers a mix of French and English-taught modules for the second. Last year its MSc came top in the FT rankings.

Eloïc Peyrache, an assistant professor of economics, says: “The chief executives of LVMH, Cartier, L’Oréal and Pinault, the owners of Gucci, are HEC alumni.”

Wider horizons

Born in North London to a Dutch father and a Grenadian mother, Charmian Hage, pictured, has enjoyed an unconventional education. “I went to primary school in Southend, secondary school in Grenada, a Dutch technical university and have a BA from [the former] Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College,” she says.

Hage, 27, who has dual Dutch and British nationality, is now studying for an MSc in business and information management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, and hopes to work in the City of London as an IT consultant.

What is the appeal of studying in the Netherlands? She says: “For someone coming here from England there is a big advantage in being an EU citizen. They can come to study and receive financial benefits, such as having part of their tuition fees paid.

“University is also cheaper in Holland. Erasmus is an international university, just as Rotterdam is a truly international city. You have the chance to experience something a bit different.” Language is no barrier as the Rotterdam MSc programme is taught in English.”

English people would find it easy to fit in, says Hage, who returned to education after two years working for an Amsterdam-based IT company. “I have enough Dutch for conversation but most business in Dutch cities is done in English.”