The Group contributes to the harmonisation of academic programs, the sharing of experiences, and collaboration in international relations. A key stakeholder in corporate development, the Écoles Centrales Group has established a reputation as a global reference point in the education of the generalist engineers of tomorrow.[2]
With about 10,000 graduate engineer students and 800 PhD doctorate students, a total faculty of 700 permanent academic members, 2200 part-time lecturers and associate professors, 450 technical and administrative staff, 2000 researchers, the Ecoles Centrales Group annually approves hundreds of PhD doctorate dissertations and grants 1500 Centrale graduate engineering degrees and other master's degrees. Already more than 100,000 Centrale alumni[3] are active today in business, entrepreneurship, research & development, and management in small and large industries worldwide.
Goals
multidisciplinary curriculum for engineers, with a broad scope of scientific, engineering and management fields taught to all students (civil engineering; mechanical engineering; electrical engineering; information theory & computer science; control science and signal processing; telecom; chemistry, physics and material sciences; micro-nano technologies; manufacturing; safety, logistics; mathematics; economics; statistics, finance; management ...) applicable for French-speaking students with a solid scientific background knowledge and intellectual agility;
first two years for acquisition of a Centrale common body of knowledges, with core and elective thematic flexibility, and at least one year of in-depth thematic studies at the end of the programme ;
close contact with the industry through joint projects and training periods, and requirements for international exposure ;
academic education and applied research closely related to industry stakeholders.
The Centrale Programme (Centrale graduate engineering degree - Grade 300 ECTS) includes a three[4] or four[5]-year curriculum. Application to the Centrale Programme is possible after two/three year[6] undergraduate studies in other educational institutes.
Admission to an école centrale requires success in either:
a French nationwide selective exam with numerus clausus : concours Centrale-Supelec, with examination centres located throughout France[7] and in Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia;[8]
an entrance exam for Bachelor of Science : CASTing - Concours d'Admission sur Titre Ingénieur ;
a selection process as per TIME double degrees procedures applicable in Europe ;
a selection process as per TIME Overseas double degree procedures applicable for selected universities in Brasil, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, USA ;
a specific application process for other international students presented by their originating University.
Thus undergraduate studies + the Centralien Programme account for more than a cumulated 300 ECTS credit in the European education system.
Admission to the master's degree programme (workload is either M1+M2 = 120 ECTS or M2 = 60 ECTS) is possible upon application assessment based on academic criteria or is possible as a part of the Centralien Programme.
Several master's degrees are available from the different écoles centrales and may be taught in English and/or French, targeting diverse science and engineering domains :
Admission to specialized master's degree programmes (Mastère spécialisé) for master's-level specialization and continuing education in specific engineering and management fields (workload is 75 ECTS) is possible upon application assessment based on candidate profile.
MS taught in French include :
^"CACCS". Centrale Carrières (in French). Retrieved 2023-09-23.
^The Centrale Programme typically includes a three-year curriculum with two years as the core programme ; the third year curriculum may be performed in an Ecole Centrale different from the first two years ; the third year may also include a Master (M2) degree as an elective part of the curriculum, that may be attended in either any Ecole Centrale or in other selected institutes in France or Europe, depending on the target research labs. Alternatively, students from the Centrale programme may decide at the end of the second year to enrol into the TIME double degree process which requires two additional years to get both the Centrale degree and another Master degree, instead of one third year.
^Students enrolled as part of the TIME double degree process have to spend two years in their home institute and two years in an Ecole Centrale in order to be granted both Master degrees.
^Concours Centrale-Supelec competitive exam is opened to any French-speaking undergraduate students. Only bright second-year undergraduates and third-year undergraduates may actually have a chance to succeed at the exam, due to high requirements upon maths and physics knowledge. The scope of knowledges needed is up to and may be beyond a standard Bachelor of Science curriculum. For this reason, about 47,000 undergraduate French students usually attend scientific Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Écoles for two or three years, in order to reach the appropriate body of knowledges in these fields. The selective exam takes place every year, with several written parts taken in April–May by about 9,000 candidates simultaneously in many examination centres worldwide ; then multiple individual test sessions take place in June–July at Centrale Paris for those candidates allowed to proceed on the exam process. Candidates are then ranked by order of merit. About 1,300 of them are able to enter Ecoles Centrales Networks each year and proceed with Centrale Graduate cursus. (To be compared with the 500,000 students who pass the Baccalauréat exam so as to start the French undergraduate cursus and to the 20,000 undergraduate students who actually succeed and enroll in a French engineering school, including Ecoles Centrales Networks among others, each year).
^Ecoles Centrales Network admission process for Centrale programme : Concours Centrale-Supelec examination centres are located in France métropolitaine (Europe) and in France Outre Mer including examination centres in Guadeloupe and Martinique (Caribbean), La Réunion (Indian Ocean) and New Caledonia (Asia Oceania),
^Cycle International - Ecoles Centrales Network admission process for Centralien programme in international examination centres :Concours Centrale-Supelec
