French Ambassador to South Korea Jerome Pasquier hosted on Monday a networking meetup at his residence for graduates of three of his country’s most prestigious business schools to boost French business education, people-to-people exchanges, and commercial connections with South Korea.

“The idea of this reception is to give an opportunity to the several hundred alumni to meet one another, discuss things and maybe get an opportunity to establish links with their French counterparts if they are Korean and, for the French alumni, maybe establish links with future Korean partners,” Pasquier said during the reception. “These meetings can be also useful in promoting French studies here.”

The embassy estimated that there are about 500 South Korean graduates of France’s foremost business schools and Grandes Ecoles, including Essec Business School, the European Institute of Business Administration (commonly known as INSEAD) and HEC Paris.

Grandes Ecoles refers to a category of post-graduate institutions of higher learning outside the conventional university system in France.

More than 90 percent of South Korean graduates from the schools are greatly satisfied with their experience of studying business in Paris and about 3 out of 4 graduates have found high-level positions at globally recognized companies, according to the embassy.

Many of the alumni at Monday’s networking reception occupy management positions at such globally recognized companies as Samsung Group, LG Group, POSCO, Renault, Veolia, L’OREAL and LVMH.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)