ENSTA

The ENSTA (École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées-National Higher School of Advanced Techniques) is one of the French Grandes Écoles of engineering. It is also a member of ParisTech.

It is located in the south of Paris, next to the Porte de Versailles, on a French Air Force military base (the school is a public teaching and research establishment operating under the supervision of the French Ministry of Defence). It also has an annex in Palaiseau, next to the École Polytechnique.

Every year about 150 engineers graduate from it. It may grow following rumors that ParisTech policy would be to increase the number of graduates from its members schools.

Background and entrance selection:

"Originally founded in 1741, ENSTA is today one of the top French institutes of higher education in engineering. Its students are selected from among the brightest science students of each generation. Situated in Paris, ENSTA offers a comprehensive scientific education, training in a broad range of technological areas, as well as in the management skills necessary to the engineer. Its five laboratories, which enjoy excellent facilities, perform top-level fundamental and applied research."

Education goals and specificity

The official website claims its goal:

"ENSTA trains highly-qualified engineers with a comprehensive scientific knowledge. Their broad education in engineering allows them to design and manage complex industrial systems and projects in an international environment."

ENSTA offers its students general engineering training with the aim of enabling them to design, produce and oversee complex industrial systems, while meeting strict economic constraints and dealing with an international environment. To do this, the School provides high-level scientific and technological training, which is frequently updated to keep pace with changes in the leading edge technologies and supplemented by language, general culture, law and economics teaching.

Research, which is one of the School's primary missions, makes a dynamic contribution in both the fundamental and applied fields, to the School's pedagogical project and to meeting the needs of business. Half is the responsibility of the School's research professors, and the other half is carried out by researchers from the CNRS, the INSERM and the École polytechnique working in ENSTA's premises.

The general nature of the training given enables ENSTA graduates to find a career in a large number of sectors such as the automotive or naval industry, networks and telecommunications, space propulsion, robotics, oceanology and the environment. Most of the ENSTA graduate engineers are much sought-after by companies and generally find their first job in R&D departments and design offices, rapidly moving towards supervisory and project management posts.