The school trains high-level engineers and scientists (Master and PhD level) in various technological fields. A small number of students are accepted each year, after a very selective exam. It is a crucial part of the infrastructure of French industry.
The École des Mines de Douai merged with TELECOM Lille in 2017 to become the largest engineering school in France north of Paris under the name IMT Lille Douai, then IMT Nord Europe.
History
The École des Maîtres-ouvriers mineurs de Douai was founded on 27 March 1878 on the same model as the École des mines d'Alès, founded forty years earlier.
It was originally a vocational school providing for the training needs of skilled workers "Maîtres-mineurs" for the coal mining industry.
Chief Engineers Lebleu and Peslin were its first directors.
The number of admissions was 24 in 1878 and 20 in 1879, enough to meet demand, but fell to 15 in 1880 and averaged only 13 in the following decade.[3]
An Alumni Societe (Société amicale des anciens élèves) was founded in 1886.[3]
On 10 February 1892 Henry Küss was entrusted with the Douai mineralogical district, including mining school, a post he held until 1906.[3]
Under Kuss the number of admissions averaged 27.5.
Only candidates who had working experience as minors were admitted.[3]
To reassure critics who denounced training of civil servants and thought over-rapid improvement in the social status of workers would be dangerous, In 1905 Henry Küss stated that the pupils did "not need a very extensive scientific background, which they would anyway with very few exceptions be unable to assimilate.[4]
By 1906, out of 393 alumni whose occupations were known, 151 were supervisors and 110 were surveyors or verifiers.
From 18 January 1906 graduates of the school could be appointed contrôleurs des Mines in the colonies.
By 1913 more than 80 of Küss's former pupils were working in the colonies or foreign countries.[3]
In the 1960s the school made basic changes to adapt to the recession in the coal industry.
In 1965 it became a school for general engineers with two streams, Buildings/Public Works, and Mechanical/Metallurgy.
Studies took four years, interspersed with five mandatory internships in companies.
The school was authorized to issue an Engineering diploma in 1966.
Research activity developed from the mid-1970s, and a technology incubator was founded in 1985 to support creation of innovative new businesses.[5]
In 1980 the school became the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines.
The École des Mines de Douai merged with TELECOM Lille in 2017 to become the largest engineering school in France north of Paris under the name IMT Lille Douai.
Education of IMT Nord Europe
All Institut Mines-Telecom (IMT) schools are Grandes Écoles, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of the French public university system. Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and C9 League in China, Grandes Écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process.[6][7][8] Alums go on to occupy elite positions within government, administration, and corporate firms in France.[9][10]
Although the IMT schools are more expensive than public universities in France, Grandes Écoles typically have much smaller class sizes and student bodies, and many of their programs are taught in English. International internships, study abroad opportunities, and close ties with government and the corporate world are a hallmark of the Grandes Écoles. Many of the top ranked schools in Europe are members of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles(CGE), as are the IMT schools.[11][12] Degrees from the Institut Mines-Telecom are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles[13] and awarded by the Ministry of National Education (France) (French: Le Ministère de L'éducation Nationale).[14]
First year
The selected students have various profiles. At the beginning the school offers a training with general courses:
Programming, algorithms, information technology, mathematics, analysis, probabilities, statistics,
Sports
Project management, team management, law, economics
Foreign languages: English as a first mandatory language, second mandatory language (German, Spanish, Russian or Mandarin Chinese), third optional language (German, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Italian, Portuguese)
During the second semester, several elective courses are offered and give students the opportunity to learn a particular subject related to engineering topics. These courses are divided into 4 sections:
Electrical engineering, electronics, automation: Electricity & environment - Automation - Numerical signal processing - Matlab/Simulink - Programming of sequential functions
Computer engineering and mathematics: Cryptography and secret codes - Complex analysis - Advanced Excel - Numerical analysis - Data analysis - Web programming - Introduction to ActionScript - Embedded software development
The first year is equivalent to a bachelor's degree in general engineering: students have general knowledge about several engineering topics.
Second year
The second year is the first master year. Students are required to select a minor and a major. This couple of courses gives them a very personalized educational path. There are 13 minors and 8 majors. Some minors cannot be selected with some majors.
The 13 minors (in ordinate) linked to the 8 majors (in abscissa)
Environment and industry
Civil Engineering
Energy Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Quality Engineering
Computer Engineering
Industrial Engineering and Industrial Automation
Technology of Polymers and Composites
Health, Quality, Environment in Civil engineering
X
X
Statistics of measures and risks
X
X
Techniques in Research and Development
X
X
X
Structure of Materials
X
X
X
Structural analysis
X
X
Manufacturing and Automation
X
X
X
Acquisition, processing of measures and regulation
X
X
Hydraulics et Hydrogeology
X
X
Valorisation of materials
X
X
X
X
X
Renewable energies
X
X
Mobile applications and embedded systems
X
X
Decision Engineering
X
X
X
Quality and security of information systems
X
X
X
The 8 majors offered are:
Environment and industry
Civil Engineering
Energy Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Quality Engineering
Computer Engineering
Industrial Engineering and Industrial Automation
Technology of Polymers and Composites
Third year
During the third year, in order to complete their technical knowledge students are required to study courses linked to professional positions. They have to select one group of courses among the following ones:
Strategic Management
Entrepreneurship
Business and Sales
International
Research and Development
Law expertise
Logistics
Purchasing
Academic partnerships of Mines Douai
Mines Douai has a various range of academic partnerships with French and foreign universities. French students can go to a foreign university during the second year and/or the third year. They can also earn a double degree with some of the universities below. Foreign students can also come to Mines Douai.
^Lembré, Stéphane (September 2013), "L'enseignement professionnel pour l'exemple? Économie minière et besoins de formation aux origines de l'École des maîtres mineurs de Douai (1860–1914)", Histoire, Économie et Société, 32 (3: Morales de la Consommation et Moralisation des Consommateurs), Armand Colin: 95, JSTOR23614450
^Monique de Saint-Martin, « Les recherches sociologiques sur les grandes écoles : de la reproduction à la recherche de justice », Éducation et sociétés 1/2008 (No. 21), p. 95-103. lire en ligne sur Cairn.info
