The École nationale des travaux publics de l'État or ENTPE (English: National School of Public Works of the State) is an engineering school part of the French Grandes Écoles founded in 1954 in Paris by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and located since 1976 in Lyon Metropolitan Area (Vaulx-en-Velin). The main vocation of ENTPE is to train engineers who will serve as technical managers within the French civil service into the State Public Works Engineering Corps or "Ingénieurs des Travaux Publics de l'Etat (ITPE)", even though nowadays half of the students are intended for the private sector, in particular in large French companies in the construction or transport sectors (Eiffage, Bouygues, Vinci, Keolis ...).
Admission
Recruitment
External exams for three quarters of the students. Admission to the ENTPE is made through a nationwide very selective entrance examination, and requires a minimum of two years of preparation after high school in Scientific Preparatory Classes (a two-year highly selective undergraduate program in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering). The ENTPE recruits on average among the top 15% of the students in these preparatory classes.[1] About 180 students per year are recruited in this way; half of them have the status of civil servants.
Also exists an exam exclusively made for civil servants having served a minimum of four years, generally technicians wishing to evolve in their careers. Each year, 10 to 15 civil servants are selected by this way
Recruitment after another degree, a direct admission in second year (Master I equivalent) is possible, for French students or students with citizenship from the European union. It is necessary to already withhold a Master I diploma cum laude in Civil Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanics or Physics. Only a dozen students are selected each year.
Foreign students (outside EU) have access through the "classical" external way (they can't be French civil servant though) or can access with special conditions through agreements with foreign schools or by a commission deciding on academic files. Foreign students are generally Moroccans, Vietnamese, Chinese, Brazilian or Syrians.
The civil servants engineering students are paid starting on their first year of school but they sign an engagement to work for the French State for 8 years starting at the end of their scholarship. The netto salary of one of these is around from €1300 to €1500 for the students accepted through the external exam.
The non-civil servants engineering students are simply called "civilians". They don't get paid during school and work mainly for the private sector once graduated.
Curriculum
Initial Curriculum
The ENTPE trains engineers in 3 years in all the fields of civil engineering, town and country planning and sustainable development. The teaching is the same, regardless of the admission way.
temporary worker in a state service in metropolitan France and overseas
Volunteer in a humanitarian mission abroad
Internship as an engineer assistant (5 months)
Masters thesis or internship as engineer for a duration of 6 months
The ENTPE also proposes a large panel of complementary courses, mainly enabling students to obtain a second degree. It is for instance possible for students to obtain degrees from the following schools:
Along with teaching, the ENTPE also deploys a strong activity in research. There are actually 6 different laboratories in the school, each one specialized in one of the fields of study evoked before. It has over 200 staff. 4 of its 6 laboratories are part of the CNRS.
Openings
As its name goes, the School trains in the fields of civil engineering ("Travaux Publics"), but also those mentioned before: Building, City Planning, Environment, Transportation, and to sum it up, all the fields of engineering linked to sustainable development.
Those attending a double diploma as engineer & architect have to attend architecture school for another 2 years minimum
Finally, most students take up directly their first position as technical management staff in the civil service. For instance as Real Estate project manager, Natural and technological risks specialist, Research Officer in the field of Transport ....
Still, it is possible for civil servants to go work for a private company, but then they will have to break the contract they have signed with the State, and therefore will have to refund all the money involved by the State in their scholarship (pays and tuitions fees), which sums up to around €90000. These amounts are usually paid by the private company.
Student life
Life on Campus
It was established in Vaulx-en-Velin on a common campus with the school of architecture of Lyon. Numerous sports infrastructures exist, among which can be mentioned a 25 meters and 4 meters deep swimming pool, a dojo, a fitness room, 4 tennis courts. There is naturally also a cafeteria, a students' bar (Grimbergen, 1664) with its patio, a music room.
Thanks to an agreement with the local HLM office, students are housed in cheap and comfortable apartments near the school.
Community life
Like many other schools, the ENTPE focuses a lot on community life through different sport activities:
indoor sports: volley, basketball, indoor-football, badminton, etc.
outdoor sports : football, rugby, sailing, rowing, golf, etc.