The system implemented by Arts et Métiers support its students in building their career paths has also won over professionals from the business world.
"Interacting with students is very rewarding for me because it allows me to better understand their expectations and follow the progress of young engineers. These factors are important in ensuring the best possible integration for our new recruits," says Rémi Lanier, an Arts et Métiers engineer Arts et Métiers Industrial Transformation Project Manager at Thales, who has been involved in the Arts et Métiers Professional Student Support program for three years Arts et Métiers more information).
Caroline Benard-Dende, a former student of the school and consultant, shares a similar experience: "I agreed to volunteer at the school as a parent representative out of loyalty to an institution that has given me so much (...) So I was prepared to give back. After three years, the result is the opposite: I'm getting a lot! Energy, enthusiasm, different ways of seeing the professional world..."
Drive real momentum for progress
Many of the 200 professionals from the business world who are involved in providing career guidance to students share this view: in this program, everyone learns and grows through contact with others.
"The participants—engineering students, business professionals, and schools—are driving real progress and laying the foundations for a true learning community, "says Marie-Claude Bonnet, who coordinates the program within the Deputy Director General's Office for Training. Students build their professional identity through in-depth and inspiring professional relationships. Business professionals learn from engineering students and younger generations, enabling them to better welcome and integrate them when they are recruited. School professionals have developed skills in terms of professional support, project management, and more. They are now certified by an international body accredited for professional interest inventory (Strong)."
A professional working environment
"Entreprise professionals play a central role," Marie-Claude Bonnet continues. "They work with students by assuming individual civil liability, and their contribution to the program is contractual."
The program's values guide their actions: "respect and confidentiality" (respecting people and the working environment, observing confidentiality both within and outside the program), "professional commitment and responsibility of stakeholders" (avoiding any abuse of influence or actual or potential conflicts of interest), and "excellence and boldness" (promoting innovation and supporting students in achieving their professional ambitions).
Professional support for students is provided in accordance with the working environment and ethical guidelines proposed by all those involved in the program (see the charter below).
Evaluation and regulatory bodies—student steering committees and professional team meetings—promote continuous adaptation to student needs and changes in the professional environment, and give the program flexibility and agility (see box "The foundations of a learning community").
Professionals School at the helm
Other key players in the program include Arts et Métiers professionals, who are responsible for coordinating and overseeing the program on campus and handling administrative tasks. In particular, they ensure compliance with the framework and ethical guidelines.
In Bordeaux, for the teachers who have successively been in charge of the program (Catherine Goetz, Carine Vignes, and Alain Villeger): "Today, the APE is about bringing business, industrial wealth and diversity to the heart of engineering education to give meaning to the training provided. It's about allowing students to express their doubts and questions. It's about taking a step back and asking, what are we doing and why? It means creating a chemistry between science, technology, humanism, and a life project that is taking shape."
Similarly, for Agnès Bourg in Cluny: "The program offers students real training in business in both its collective and individual dimensions: they have the opportunity to develop their ability to 'act collectively', but also to know how to take the necessary step back for in-depth individual reflection. The enthusiasm of all those involved in building the project is still very much alive today. The strength of professional commitment is one of the foundations of an innovative, distinctive, and agile program."
Sophie Duchamp in Lille adds: "The program encourages students to trust themselves and dare to express their uniqueness and open up new professional possibilities."
Sustain the system
"The institution, the Arts et Métiers Foundation Arts et Métiers the Arts et Métiers Society of Engineers Arts et Métiers this program, "explain Xavier Kestelyn, Deputy Director General for Training, and Xavier Dufresne, Director of Initial Training. "It gives students the opportunity to align their training plans with their career plans. The goal today is to make it a permanent feature."
The perspectives of two young engineers who helped build the device
Baptiste, Johann, and Guillaume, Young Promotions project team.
Agathe Lecomte, Reliability Engineer, Exxon Mobil
Student project team in 2014-2015, then Young Graduates
"In developing this support program, we wanted to fulfill our expectations as students and help future generations of students find their way.
We designed a program that could be adapted to individual needs, allowing students to engage with the business world, develop their professional stature, and benefit from the experience throughout their lives.
We were keen for everyone to be able to freely express their expectations, fears, doubts, and questions, and so we worked hard on the framework for the program.
The result of these discussions is the charter signed by the student and the professional mentor. Its introduction alone sums up our vision for the program.
Today, I would like to thank everyone involved in bringing this program to life and helping it grow. I hope that students take advantage of the opportunity to have an APE and I wish them all the best in their professional lives.
Fabien Dartnell, Transport & Industrial Logistics Project Engineer for the automotive industry, GEFCO
Project team of young engineers graduating in 2014-2017
" We changed the mindset of the Arts et Métiers engineering students. From students who lacked confidence, we moved on to young people who needed to find their path, in line with their motivations, which are not always to become a CEO of a CAC 40 company...
Finally, this is truly a first for an engineering school, given the scale of the rollout, and I think we should be proud of what we have accomplished together with the students!"
