Centrale Nantes

About Centrale Nantes
At Centrale Nantes, we train our students to become versatile engineers with strong scientific and technical know-how. Equipped with a strong managerial culture, they are capable of placing scientific subjects into a global context incorporating environmental and societal issues. In a spirit of innovative exploration, entrepreneurship and practical application, our programmes confront students with the major challenges of the 21st century, combining theory and "doing".

Our extensive links with the world's top universities opens up international study opportunities. The school belongs to one of the most exclusive networks, which is ever expanding, particularly towards India, Japan, Brazil and Russia.

Beyond this renowned training, with the support of numerous strong institutional and industrial partnerships Centrale Nantes produces world-class academic and applied research. Research and education have always gone hand-in-hand at the school. The scientific courses fall within the research areas of the school's teaching staff and they conduct their research in the school laboratories. This osmosis between education and research will be valuable, beneficial and a guarantee of quality in your studies at Centrale Nantes.
 

Research

Five internationally-recognised research institutes feed into our training programmes and strengthen the school’s links with the socio-economic fabric. Centrale Nantes faculty members, who are at the forefront of their respective fields, share their activities between research and teaching, which thus benefits from their expertise.

The research institutes deploy an interdisciplinary approach to address three major challenges for growth and innovation: factory of the future, energy transition, and engineering for health.

Centrale Nantes is committed to ensuring that industry benefits directly or indirectly from our research through technology transfer. This transfer can take the form of patents and licences, research partnerships, bilateral collaboration, and joint teams and facilities.

Our research facilities allow us to forge strong links with industry through the shared use of very large scale equipment. Researchers from the national and European academic community can benefit from those facilities as well as industry players in order to conduct experiments on prototypes of relevant size.
 



 
Programme
TUD students opting for a double degree programme at Centrale Nantes will spend two years here within the engineering programme. They follow one year of the common-core engineering syllabus and one year of specialisation. Most courses are taught in French. 

Common core curriculum in year 1

The first-year common-core curriculum provides students with broad-based multi-disciplinary engineering training:
 

  • Technical and scientific courses make up 70% of the curriculum with the remaining 30% of the programme devoted to business sciences, social sciences, modern languages and sport.
  • Students benefit from first-hand professional experience during year 1 with a student business project in the second semester and a 4-week internship to discover the business world in July/August.
  • Students also commit to a civic engagement during their first year of studies whereby they make a contribution to society through volunteer work. This is to be completed by the end of March in Year 2.
► See full course information and syllabus

Specialisation in year 2

  • In year 2 the students choose a specialisation, with 464 hours of courses, from the twenty or so proposed.
  • In addition to the acquisition of technical and scientific expertise, Centrale Nantes places a strong emphasis on personal development and the fostering of soft skills. Students continue to develop their soft skills with a range of Business Sciences courses on offer in the second year. Two modern languages (English and a choice of second language) and sport are taught throughout the engineering programme.
  • Students continue to benefit from invaluable first-hand industrial experience in year 2 with a 20-week placement starting in April. The internship is linked to the student's chosen specialisation and can be undertaken within a company or a research laboratory, in France or abroad.
► See full course information and syllabus
► See choice of specialisation
 
Student Life

Centrale Nantes houses 17 buildings on a 40-acre green campus by the river Erdre, a 15-minute tram-ride away from the city centre. In addition to the standard facilities of a university campus (classrooms, media library, computer rooms, etc.), it is home to modern and varied sports facilities, the Centrale-Audencia-Ensa incubator and vibrant student life.


110 Student clubs and associations

A very lively and dynamic associative activity, thanks to student engagement and the active support of the school.

There are more than 110 clubs and associations offering diverse activities all year round:

Students can find an activity that allows them to express their talents, to develop their organization, project management, and communication skills. A great experience on a personal level, but also a first step towards professional skills.

Visit the Alpha website to learn more about the clubs and associations on campus:

Published on January 8, 2024 Updated on February 6, 2024