Objectives and Priorities from ESAIP

ESAIP Group is a network of higher education institutes across France preparing students for international careers in computer science, environmental engineering and industrial risk management. Courses are organised around study periods in France and abroad so as to provide all students with an international profile. Our mission is to offer innovating teaching to students with a Bac+2 level, based around project management, teamwork and valuing each student as an individual. By offering future managers the chance to acquire dual skills – technical/scientific and international - our institution intends to pursue ERAMUS university exchange programmes in the future.

Our recruitment policy is directed at widening participation, with regard to both student academic profiles and their social or geographic background. More than fifteen different nationalities learn to live and study together. Our courses have been designed to promote lifelong learning through modularisation of teaching, validation of professional experience and short programmes aimed at different groups, both employed and job seekers. Finally, in close partnership with the Monteclair Institute in Angers, our institute provides the necessary physical and technical support to welcome visually impaired students onto all courses.

ESAIP Group has developed a mission of actively pursuing a teaching policy promoting international exchanges and technical know-how for nearly twenty years. Making use of an extended network of university and industrial partners we are able to offer individually-tailored programmes to all our students for their two study periods abroad. This unique approach is rooted in a quality association with more than fifty international partners, including thirty in Europe. Students are encouraged to supplement their overseas study period with professional experience. We can offer incoming and outgoing students numerous and diverse placement opportunities in both companies and laboratories via our network of industrial partners.

By signing the ERASMUS charter we demonstrate our dedication to offering an ERAMUS culture for everyone. Some of the major events bringing ERASMUS to everyday life in our institution are our “ERAMUS Information sessions”, the presence of international students and other events run by the International Students’ Association (ISA). University teaching exchanges, research and development activities and links between administrative departments all contribute to the backbone of our international policy. More recently, our academic teams have been collaborating with colleagues at the University of Glamorgan, UK and Tampere Polytechnic, Finland in the setting up of an EU Curriculum Development project to develop a European Master in “Risk Management”.

Quality of academic mobility activities

To satisfy our students and ensure total quality for every aspect of their study periods abroad we are organised around “language” areas. We collaborate closely with our partners and pay rigorous attention to preparation, follow-up, feedback and assessment. Prior to departure, our language area coordinators and course leaders work together to define a course specification to set out the content of the study period, all details and assessment criteria. The programme of study is worth thirty ECTS acquired across a balanced mix of speciality and language and cultural modules, which are indispensable for successful integration of students in the host country. This specification allows our regional coordinators to negotiate with partners for a detailed curriculum which will provide continuity of and coherence with courses in France. Regional coordinators also deal with all logistical and practical details such as arrival in the host country, accommodation, eating and campus life. The entire package, from both academic and logistical points of view, is then subjected to a strict internal validation procedure. After validation, the package details are formalised and presented to students. Regional coordinators work closely with all parties to finalise the Learning Agreement and to establish all administrative files. During and up to the end of the study period, our coordinators work closely with a local correspondent and an international student representative. This enables them to monitor progress and report back to course leaders. Our coordinators draw up score transcripts and ECTS credits obtained, which are an integral part of students’ end of year average. Finally, by visiting staff and students at host institutions, coordinators can establish an annual programme report and identify areas for future improvement. This visit also provides an opportunity to discuss reciprocal agreements for incoming and outgoing students, as well as facilitating staff mobility.

Quality of student placement activitie

Our institution strongly encourages students to supplement their study period with a work placement in the host country. By publishing work placement opportunities online, on our portal, students may optimise their placement research. We also maintain a diverse database of contacts thanks to close collaboration with former students, partner companies and our network of Lassallian institutions in eighty-five countries. ESAIP is developing partnerships with local and regional authorities in order to extend our network to companies and universities in the partner cities of the Maine et Loire Department and the Pays de la Loire region, Veszprém -Hungary, Covasna - Romania, Montérégie - Québec and Yantai – China.

All work placements are formalised by a tripartite agreement between the student, the host company and our institution. This agreement clearly sets out students’ objectives as well as assessment criteria. Students also give a poster presentation of their work placement in one or more foreign languages. These presentations are attended by representatives of the host company and tutors and researchers from ESAIP and have given rise to solid partnerships and exportation of technical expertise between our Centre of Research and international collaborators in the fields of biological and medical engineering. Such projects have not only brought research teams closer but also led to joint-publications with the universities of Ljubljana in Slovenia, Kuopio in Finland, Lancaster in the UK as well as the departments of functional diagnostics in Moscow and technological development and electrical engineering at NASA.

For these reasons, our University Erasmus Charter renewal procedure is a natural extension of our educational values, promoting international cooperation for more than twenty years and consequently, major and positive collaboration between future international technologists and project managers.