ESISAR is an engineering school of the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble

Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble

The Grenoble Institute of Technology is a French technological university system consisting of six engineering schools....

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Higher Institute of Engineering in Advanced Systems and Networks

Grenoble Institute of Technology (Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble) INPG has 9 schools -
http://www.esisar.inpg.fr ESISAR being the most
recent. Each year it confers
1000 degrees in engineering,
300 Master's degrees
as well as 200 PhD theses.
It has 31 research
laboratories which are
associated with the CNRS
(the French National
Scientific Research Centre).

ESISAR opened its doors in 1995 to satisfy a new need expressed by many firms: to
have engineers mastering all the abilities required to achieve and to put
into operation advanced systems, in
particular electronics, automation and
industrial information technology.
In fact, Advanced Systems constitute the future of the industry. They
allow the more rapid creation of new
products (analysis & design), manufacturing at a lower cost while insuring good quality (regulation and a
constant supervision of the processes)
and they make them distinct from
competing products - `smart' items
and innovative functions, for
example.

With this ambition in mind, ESISAR
was born from a unique alliance in
France - Grenoble University of
Technology (INPG), the leading
French centre for the training of engineers and the CCI for the Drôme
region. http://esisar.grenoble-inp.fr/79883606/0/fiche___pagelibre/&RH=SAR_FOR-Admissions&RF=SAR_FOR-Admissions

These two partners have developed
an original teaching method, giving
the same value to the classic teachings of an engineering school as to
the realities of the industrial world.
ESISAR is, for example, the only
school which offers fourth year students the opportunity to complete an
industrial project, carried out for a
client company which defines the
content.
The INPG/ESISAR engineering
diploma was entitled and certified
by the National Commission in
November 1994.

First and second years: practical work from the beginning

At ESISAR students are in contact with the reality of the engineering field during the
first two years: electronics, automation and computer science constitute
36% of their programme. In the same
way, early apprenticeship of industrial skills (accountancy, marketing,
project management, etc.) is given to
them and this continues for five
years. Mathematics and physics are
taught from the first to the fourth
year, and are considered as basic,
necessary tools for technical disciplines. The first cycle has 684 hours
of mathematics and physics, and the
third and fourth years total 173 hours.

Year 3: a rigorously multidisciplinary approach

Today, as a result of economic realism and a desire for efficiency industrialists are looking for engineers with varied skills,
rather than single skill specialists.
This is especially true for the advanced systems which draw from a
variety of technological fields.
This is why ESISAR proposes a
multi-disciplinary apprenticeship,
carried out with constant concern for
balance. Electronics, automation,
industrial computing and all industrial equipment, all benefit from
generous periods of study time.
For the students who join the school
in the third year, their cycle starts off
with six weeks of class on technical
disciplines, while the students who
joined in the first year are on technical training. Therefore the different
levels are harmonised.

Year 4: The industrial project, a baptism of fire

In this fourth year, completing the setting up of a work point on time, obtaining the expected results,
managing a client relationship, are all operations the student-engineer has
the chance of experiencing during a
six-month industrial project.
This project, commissioned by a
client company, is based on a feasibility study, a model or a prototype. It
contributes to the creation of a product or a new function, with industrial stakes which are also imposed on
the student-engineers.
Organised in teams of three, supported by an appointed study supervisor,
they experience a stirring time for
six months. The knowledge they get
is both pedagogical (a study of real
meaning, a project to manage) and
professional contact with technology
transference. Some projects have led
to products which are highly commercialised today.

Year 5: learning how to link together and synthesise the knowledge

With the industrial project, the student-engineers have learnt how to use their
many skills to carry out a project. The
teaching in the 5th year is conceived
in keeping with the same logic using
electronics, computer science and
other industrial techniques, with
importance attached to synthesis,
effective "pooling" of knowledge and
the deepening of scientific understanding.
After following a common programme, the student engineers
choose between two "in depth"
modules. The ISE module - embedded computer science, is oriented
towards software aspects of advanced
systems. The ISD module - command
and integration of the systems and
devices, is oriented towards the material aspects.
Conferences led by industrialists
and researchers allow students to
benefit from high level coaching on
the "state of the art" in their future
field of activity. The year ends with a
six-month industrial project.