Télécom Lille and Mines Douai merge to create a new school

A bold and creative graduate school of engineering, attentive to the needs of companies, with a global perspective

Following collaborative work involving the staff of both institutions, partner companies and alumni associations, the deliberative bodies of the two schools, Lille University of Science and Technology and IMT approved the planned merger, which will result in the creation of a new entity on January 1st, 2017: Mines-Télécom Lille.

This new public engineering graduate school will offer innovative academic training, drawing on the recognized expertise of both existing schools to train tomorrow’s engineers, actors in the third industrial revolution and the industry of the future. It will develop clusters of excellence in research.

The creation of this new school will reinforce the partnership dynamic that already exists between the University of Lille and the graduate schools and research organizations located in the region. It will also strengthen the Lille center of teaching and research, making it more attractive and allowing it to gain recognition at international level.

The newly created school will represent the presence to the north of Paris of IMT, the number one French group of engineering graduate schools. It will be a component of the national system at the heart of the transitions of energy, digital technology and industry.

The new school will be shared by Lille University of Science and Technology and IMT, and will retain the two sites in Lille and Douai and all the staff of both institutions. Mines-Télécom Lille will welcome its first students in September 2018. It will award degrees to between 500 and 550 students per year, making it one of the main engineering graduate schools in France. The partnership that each school had previously built with Lille University of Science and Technology will be reinforced, and the new school, part of the IMT, will benefit from the strong dynamics of the two groups.

 

Companies at the heart of the training

Relationships with national and regional companies and other economic stakeholders in the Region of Nord-Pas de Calais-Picardie will form a fundamental pillar of the planned merger. The goal is to propose a comprehensive offering to companies. The new school will seek to train multidisciplinary engineers, who will perfectly master engineering sciences and digital technologies and be capable of bringing innovation to companies, and of anticipating the economic realities of a global society.

 

Training and centers of excellence in research

Mines-Télécom Lille will award a “flagship” degree in general engineering and specialized degrees through apprenticeship. The future institution will offer training and develop research in four key areas: materials and civil engineering, environment and sustainable development, energy, and digital technology. Within a campus very much focused on innovation, immersed in renowned research laboratories, on their own or with partners, the future engineers will be ready to meet the challenges of transitions in energy, digital technology and industry.

 

An original model for an engineering graduate school with strong international ambitions

Ideally located, the originality of the new school lies in its outstanding recruitment of both secondary school students and students who have completed graduate school preparatory classes (CPGE), thus creating attractiveness and a wealth and diversity of individuals who will integrate a common training program for high-level general engineering, with an international perspective that is open to other cultures. To affirm its international vocation, Mines-Télécom Lille will focus on training in English, true intercultural immersion, internships abroad and academic stays in partnership with foreign institutions for a minimum period of one semester.

 

The strength of a network

A full member of IMT and an institution shared with Lille University of Science and Technology, the new school will rely on the network and resources of these two great institutions, building new original bridges between institutions, common degrees, privileged access to research laboratories and international partnerships. Mines-Télécom Lille has the intention of becoming a graduate school that is agile and attractive and that plays a leading role in training the future engineers that companies will need.

 

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