In order to strengthen its global dynamic, the École Centrale Paris formed an alliance in 1990 with three other Écoles, to set up the Écoles Centrales group.
The five Écoles Centraleq (Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Paris) involved share a common ethic as regards educating general engineers to a high level for professional careers. While each École has conserved its own identity and its own degrees, the four Écoles have resolutely committed themselves, through a voluntary and autonomous approach, to developing their complementarily and their synergy, and to thus enrich their shared potential for offering services to companies.
These exchanges and cooperation activities mainly concern:
- The progressive harmonization of educational programs, and the promotion of exchanges of engineering students, in particular at the 3rd year Area of Concentration level,
- The coordination of research strategies and associated cooperation,
- Pooling international experience and harmonizing strategies for promoting the "Centrale" concept abroad (in particular with the participation in the T.I.M.E. network),
- Since 2000, the Ecoles "Centrale" have decided to federate their Industrial Engineering competencies, and to organize this joint expertise by setting up "a single-entry contact" Centrale Génie Industriel the better to contribute to the support of industry in the fields of: Production Engineering, Innovation Management, Project Management, Logistics, Human Resources Management, and so on.
The Écoles Centrales group awards degrees to around 1,150 engineers every year. It brings together around 1,500 researchers and represents 12 % of research in engineering Ecoles in the National Education system. Its size and potential is comparable to that of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Technische Universität Berlin or the Facultés Polytechniques of major European or American universities. It is an element that is essential for the international visibility of the Écoles.
The Research Fields of the Écoles Centrales group
The laboratories (Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Paris) bring together more than 700 people on a permanent basis (of which 400 are professors and researchers) and more than 800 postgraduates. Their vocation, to be in touch with the preoccupations of companies, the natural partners of the Écoles, is shared by all. In this respect, most of the research work corresponds to identified needs, arising from the social - economic sector, and much of it is carried out in collaboration with the end users of the results of the research: companies, government offices or agencies, and public or private organizations, including the European Union.
Research in the Écoles Centrales is always closely linked to the teaching program, and the engineering students remain in close liaison with it throughout their studies.
The research laboratories of the 5 Écoles Centrales are grouped together under the following research fields:
Écoles Centrales group history
