ESAA: Navigating Between Complex Institutional
Issues and Communication Strategies in the
Algerian University Field
Karim Kiared, Mehdi Souiah
Abstract. This article offers an in-depth reading of the managerial experience of the Algerian Higher School of Business (ESAA) from 2019 to 2024, a unique binational institution in the Algerian university landscape. Based on participant objectification and the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu's fields, the authors explore how the ESAA navigates between a hybrid governance model, commercial imperatives (paid training) and complex institutional issues, particularly related to Algerian-French relations and positioning in a predominantly public higher education system. The study details the school's institutional and commercial communication strategy, highlighting its proactive adaptation to the digital shift, its differentiation through educational innovation and its strong identity anchoring through Algerian cultural symbols. The analysis highlights the quest for capital (economic, symbolic, social, cultural) of the ESAA to establish its legitimacy and its influence. She also explores the challenges of this approach, in particular the tensions linked to the reproduction of academic inequalities and the need for a balance between international standards and local specificities. The article concludes on the position of the ESAA as a strategic actor, a soft power tool, in search of a sustainable balance in a crucial African context.
Keywords: ESAA, institutional communication, Algerian university field, Hybrid governance, differentiation strategy