Engineering France

The fastest train: the TGV. The way to go to space: the airbus. Where do they come from? France of course….
France, known as the country of art and culture, is also the fourth industrial power in the world. A first rank pole of scientific and technological innovation, France owes its performances to its research capacity and to its success in domains as different as space, transports, electronics and telecommunications.

Aim to fly higher with the NplusI Masters degree programmeme in France

Nplusi (http://www.nplusi.com) is a unique concept of the French government to facilitate study in FrenchEngineering Institutes for master’s degree programmeme. It is open to all the students across the world. The eligibility criterion for admission is a bachelor’s degree in engineering in an appropriate branch, from an AICTE recognised institute or university.

The engineering courses in France stress heavily on practical applications. Emphasis is also placed student’s ability to think and to explain their thought processes. Besides, French teaching methodology is based on mathematical models and techniques.

Becoming an internationally proficient engineer is a challenge requiring great qualities. Engineers must show their ability to adapt to a constantly changing world with an open mind and skill set to communicate freely. Through the NplusI a student gets a special training in project management and team management concepts. In fact a student gets as many as six months of time whereby one can get paid for the work done as part of internship or project work.

Companies whatever their size participate closely in the training of French engineers. These partnerships aim to provide graduates with suitable professional training and prepare hem with their future responsibilities. This way NplusI is a unique network connecting corporate in the whole world with the most prestigious French engineering institutes (including"Grandes Ecoles"). Presently NplusI has partnership with some of the leading French companies such as Total, France Telecom,Dassault, EDF, ST Microlectronics, Thales etc. These companies fund all or part of a student’s course and in return the student has to carry out his internship and or final year project in the company. Besides company sponsorship a prospective student can also look for embassy scholarship and the Eiffel scholarship.

The master’s degree programme offered by NplusI is internationally recognised through the Bologna process. In addition to the international recognition of the qualification through the Bologna agreement which has been signed by 45 countries, the Commission des Titres d’Ingenieur– CTI, i.e. equivalent to India AICTE - has entered into an official agreement with accreditation body for engineering courses such as ABET (Accredition Board for Engineering and Technologies) in the USA and Bureau Canadian d’Accreditation des Programmemes d’Ingenerie (BCAPI) in Canada.

The complete NplusI application procedure is online and user friendly. It typically means sending one FREE online application which is sent to over 63 Eng schools on the network. One just needs to get registered on the NplusI web site (www.nplusi.com) and fill the all the necessary online forms. One can also take help from various Edufrance desks that are available in all the major citieswww.edufrance.inor can contact the country representative of Nplusi based in Delhi at 2, Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi. The seemingly language barrier that deters many student vanishes fast once the students goes through the Nplusi two months language training programme in some of the best schools in France. The cost of two year master’sdegree programme in France is relatively low as compared to other countries. Almost 50 per cent of the tuition fee is subsidised by the French government. For the remaining part meritorious students can gain from various funding sources. One can also work as part time student for as much as 20 hours a week and get paid decently. Overall it makes lot of sense to pursue a master’s degree engineering programme through the NplusI channel to students who are ambitious, open minded and are willing to explore the world on their own.

Besides Nplusi there are various other programmemes as well. Here is a glimpse into the reputed and recognised schools of engineering.

Telecommunications - The two top schools which offer the programmeme in English in this field are: ISEP (www.isep.fr) and GET (www.get-telecommunication.fr).

GET is a group of seven institutes, of Telecom Paris, ENST Bretagne, INT Management, Telecom INT, Eurecom, IAAI. The programmemes are bilingual– in English and in French.

GEM, Groupe des Ecoles des Mines (www.emse.fr) is again a group of engineering schools spread in seven different cities. Majority of the teaching is in English. All Masters Programmemes, it covers different topics like Entrepreneurship and Technology, Design Manufacturing, Innovation Strategy, Material Engineering, Industrial Economy and International Management,Project Management for Environmental and Energy Engineering, Management of Logistic and Production Systems, Preservation and Management of cultural heritage, Computer Science.

ESTACA (www.estaca.fr) is another reputed school. It offers a four-month Computer Aided Engineering and Design applied to Automative and Aeronautics taught entirely in English. As also the Safety of Transportation Systems is in English. They have recently come up with a new programme called the Euromind which is a European Master in Design& Technology of advanced Vehicle Systems.

The INSA (www.insa-lyon.fr) programme is present in four cities of France: Lyon, Toulouse, Rennes and Rouen.

It is taught in French but with a great focus on students coming from non-french speaking countries, especially Asia and hence their programme is named ASINSA i.e. Asia + Insa. It covers eight fields of specialisation. In order, to register for this programme, it is advisable for the students to learn French.

ISEP is situated in the capital city and offers two semesters of entrance for its Masters courses.
The regular October term has Master of Science in Information Technology, with Major in (1) Information Systems, (2) Telecommunications& Mobiles and (3) System Integration and Project Management.