This fall, the Paris campus welcomes first-year students to the Grande École Program.
Training more students and revitalizing campus life are the two objectives behind the launch of an apprenticeship-based Grande École Program (PGE) in Paris. The first class comprises 19 students selected through the AMBition Ingénieur and CPGE competitive entrance exams (PT bank, ENSEA and Centrale Supélec exams).
An eventful first week back at school
As soon as they returned to school on September 1, students enjoyed an eventful first week: presentation of the campus, its various services, and the teaching team; tour of the laboratories; sobriety mural; TOEIC test; workshop to improve their CVs and cover letters; and three serious games organized with companies (SLB, Assystem, and KPMG).
The goal? To put them in a position to respond to real industrial challenges and give them the opportunity to get to know each other better.
An educational model based on a problem-based approach
The 19 students are now undergoing a three-year training program that alternates between periods at school and periods in the workplace to complete their work-study program. An innovative educational model has been developed by a team of teachers and teacher-researchers. This model is distinguished by its problem-based approach. "The students will work on two macro-projects, which will serve as a common thread for the courses offered in each teaching unit," explains Juan-Pablo Marquez Costa, the program's academic director. In the first semester of GIM, the focus will be on the conception, design, and manufacture of a prosthetic foot for a child, and in the second semester of GIE, on the conception, sizing, and optimization of a wind turbine-type system. Students will build their projects themselves, as they will analyze the problem, draft the specifications, and decide on the working methodology (design, sizing, choice of materials and processes, etc.). With the help of teachers and research professors, they will acquire knowledge, interpersonal skills, and practical skills. It is an inductive approach in which students play a more active role in their education."
The Paris campus is the second to offer a PGE apprenticeship program, as this program has already been available in Angers for 10 years.
A first for the campus
"The Paris campus is welcoming first-year PGE students for the first time in a long time," says Mickaël Rivette, its director. " This is part of the institution's plan to train more engineers, and it can only help to energize student life on campus! In addition, this project has brought together teachers and teacher-researchers who did not know each other and created new connections."
