Patrick Drahi donates 10 million euros to IMT’s graduate schools to develop online courses
A firm believer in the high-quality training available to French engineers and their internationally renowned expertise in the field of digital engineering, Patrick Drahi is increasing his support of France’s Télécom graduate schools by helping them to create a comprehensive range of Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs).
Patrick Drahi becomes the schools’ first private sponsor following his decision to donate 10 million euros to IMT’s Fondation Mines-Télécom.
Initial and continuing education students from around the world will be able to study at this ‘virtual graduate school’, which will offer a range of online courses via an open platform. MOOCs are tools that will help to transform higher education institutions as part of the digital revolution. They improve the quality of teaching by adapting it to the expectations of 21st century students and by making it available around the world.
Thanks to Patrick Drahi’s donation, the Télécom graduate schools will pioneer the use of MOOCs by using them to share their best teaching with thousands of students worldwide.
The MOOCs offered will focus primarily on fields in which France enjoys an international reputation for expertise, such as cybersecurity, augmented reality and digital innovation.
They will also promote France’s unique and renowned approach to digital technologies by combining mathematics, electronics, IT, networks, signal processing, economics and social science.
Patrick Drahi’s long-standing support of French Télécom graduate schools has enabled them to improve significantly the quality and accessibility of their courses for a number of years.
‘Through hard work and merit, I was given the opportunity to study excellent courses at the Télécom Paris graduate school and the École Polytechnique. By making this donation, I want to help these French graduate schools to remain global pioneers in their respective fields, such as digital technologies and innovation in the case of Télécom Paris,’ he explains.
Yves Poilane, director of Télécom Paris, an IMT graduate school, added, ‘Patrick Drahi’s support of our Télécom graduate schools has been made possible by the personal involvement of Guy Roussel, chair of the Fondation Mines-Télécom, for several years now. His funding has enabled us to attract new talent, innovators and entrepreneurs from around the world. The Télécom graduate schools aim to lead the way in a key area of IMT’s strategy, which is also supported by the Fondation Mines-Télécom’s new Ambition 2020 campaign.’
