Provide highly skilled world-changing engineers to face the world

Our mission is to prepare engineering students to address the major scientific, technical, economic, environmental and societal challenges of the 21st century. To achieve this goal, CentraleSupélec has developed, a new curriculum training engineering entrepreneurs provided with an excellent scientific expertise who meet the current needs of companies and society as a whole.

A CentraleSupélec engineer is a highly skilled engineering entrepreneur

CentraleSupelec, an international and strongly business-oriented institution, enables engineers to:

  • a scientific and technical culture through highly developed abilities for conceptualization and abstraction as well as strong skills in complex systems
  • Foster innovation and leadership in an international environment, adding
  • Stand at the forefront of current technological and societal changes, especially in the digital field
  • Take a broad worldview, be aware of major societal issues, be socially responsible and value mutual respect

A CentraleSupélec engineer can deploy nine major skills. These are essential and give the curriculum its structure

1. Analyze, design and implement complex systems with scientific, technological, human and economic components

Graduates will analyze, design and implement complex systems with scientific, technological, human and economic components. A complex system is a set composed of several entities whose piece-by-piece study is not sufficient in order to grasp the understanding of their overall behavior and to act upon it. Complex systems are often composed of a large number of entities which are described by varied disciplines operating at different scales; they comprise feedback loops between these entities, and generate emergences - expected or not - due to the fact that the overall behavior is not the result of the mere sum of the behavior of these entities as described separately, due to the interactions between those same entities.

Complex systems appear in many natural, as well as artificial situations. The electricity network of a country, an A380 Airbus, an artificial heart and the banking system are examples of complex systems.

2. Acquire and develop in-depth expertise in a scientific or sectorial field and/or job

High competence in the discipline or sector will allow the graduate to master a field extensively, think in depth, and thoroughly understand the difficulties and intricacies of a subject. This "expertise" approach enables one to appropriate complex thought patterns that can then be transferred to other sectors; it gives distance and perspective to effectively address future learnings. In addition, the proximity to research provides objectives of excellence.

Graduates must acquire professional skills along two lines: the discipline or sector of activity, on the one hand, and the job line (cross-sectors, for example: business in design and development, professions linked to operations such as production, supply chain, etc.), on the other. Graduates are flexible and will adjust their competencies to meet all the requirements in the course of their professional development.

3. Act, initiate, and innovate in the science and technology environment

Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship are some of the many strong points of our graduates. They can act and undertake. Entrepreneurs are more than simply drivers of action. They have decided to become masters of their future, to change the system around them, to seize an opportunity and/or fulfill a dream, and they take the risk of starting new activities. They can do so by creating a company or launching an initiative within an existing structure. In all cases, they are personally involved, taking responsibility for the project design, implementation and outcome.

4. Create value for a company and its customers

Graduates can fully understand and analyze the purposes of the projects they undertake and they can account for their value. They know their customers’ needs and address them while suggesting relevant solutions.

5. Thrive in a multicultural and international environment

Graduates are comfortable working in international, multicultural teams, either in French or English. They can propose solutions suited to their environment in a given country or on a global scale.

6. Thrive and innovate in the digital world

Digital technologies are still developing at breakneck speed and their use by individuals and companies brings a transformation of society and economy by initiating more sharing, cooperation and empowerment. The movement is accelerating and it can lead companies to transform or disappear. The transformation is technological, but also organizational and cultural. Students are thus at ease in the digital world where they can innovate and interpret. They understand the techniques and sciences that support the digital revolution and know about their developments.

7. Convince others

Graduates can communicate and convey clear, accurate messages and adapt to a large audience or group of people. They can convince decision-makers and get the support and the resources they need to act.

8. Be a leader: lead a team, carry out a project

As they work on complex systems that combine many elements and participants, it is necessary for graduates to be a part of multiple teams, to know how to lead them, develop them, and foster the talent within those teams. They are also able to initiate and carry out a project successfully.

9. Think and act as an accountable, ethical professional

Graduates are the key actors of their professional and personal development. They think and act ethically, respecting their co-workers and business partners, as well as the collective interest and assets.

The curriculum will be mainly taught on the new Paris-Saclay campus. Student engineers have the opportunity, from the second year of their curriculum, to complete eight-week periods adding high value on the Metz and Rennes campuses.

Program strengths :

  • Strong scientific culture (mathematics/IT) to analyse complex systems
  • Project-based teaching: multidisciplinary and multi-angle thematic modules
  • Modular program: multiple choices, in-depth study and specializations option (research, entrepreneurship, apprenticeship, digital)
  • Individual guidance based on personal development and career choice
  • In-depth professionalization program based on strengthened ties with business professionals (6 to 24 months in a company during the curriculum), 140 corporate partners (large companies, small and medium size businesses in multiple fields)
  • Leading international Higher Education and Research Institution: 3 campuses abroad, 176 academic partners and 80 dual-degree agreements

Curriculum Key Figures

  • 8 to 24-month business internship
  • 6 months abroad minimum (12 months typically)
  • 2 mandatory modern languages (C1 in English for graduation, B1 for second modern language)
  • Third year: matrix structure including 8 specializations and 8 professional tracks

John Cagnol in charge of new engineering curriculum design, outlines its novelties: (in French)