THE INTEGRATED PREPARATORY CYCLE

CPGE vs Integrated Prep

There are many ways to obtain an engineering degree. In France, the Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles (CPGE) are the primary source of students for engineering schools, but the flow of graduates from these CPGE
is no longer in the majority. Nearly one school out of two now offers a post-bac entry. The 5-year curriculum is then divided into 2 years of preparatory cycle
integrated followed by 3 years in the engineering cycle without the need for the student to take a selection exam or change schools during this course. The question then arises as to whether high school students should choose between these two main routes to graduation. The advantages of a post-bac school are numerous. The main one is the difference in the objective given to the two years of the preparatory cycle. In one case, we prepare students to succeed in a competitive examination, in the other, we already prepare them for their future life as engineers. This preparation is based on several axes.

Helping students build their career plans

There is no such thing as a singular engineering profession. It is declined in the plural in a The size and structure of the company also radically change the way the job is done. Five years are not too much to discover the job opportunities and understand which ones are the best fit for each individual.

The choice of specialization is an important moment in the curriculum of engineering students. For students in the integrated preparatory program, it is a reasoned choice that does not depend on a competitive examination ranking. It is also an informed choice that is based on the discovery of broader teachings than just the basic sciences. To prefer a technical subject and to want to go deeper into it, one must have discovered and practiced it.

Five years to build a “French-style engineer

TheFrench engineer is a construction protected by the CTI, which monitors the specifications of its skills. And they are not limited to scientific knowledge
and the mastery of technologies! In its definition, the CTI reminds us that, inaddition to technical means, engineers mobilize financial and human resources. And for Generation Z, which is looking for its actions to be meaningful, CTI reminds us of the objective of ” collective well-being” . From the integrated preparatory cycle, its objectives are taken into account.

A clever mix of theory and practice from the first year

Project-based learning in our VPE(Valuation of Student Projects) program starts in the first year with the Team Science and Engineering Project(ECE CUP). This annual project (100 hours/student) brings students together as a team to build and compete in a robotics competition. Students are provided with the pedagogical basis to understand the implementation of innovative projects with Agile Scrum.

The search for balance

The ECE integrated preparatory program is first of all a balance between subjects with a workload distributed on each module: Mathematics / Physics / Computer science / Applied physics (electronics) / Languages and human formation / Project.
It is also a balance between different pedagogical formats adapted to the objectives of skill acquisition. The courses
The interactive modules include questions and exercises, student interventions, quizzes, etc., in order to pace the teacher’s intervention.
In the tutorial and practical sessions, the student is put in a situation of individual or paired work
with the guidance of the teacher. Independent projects aim to develop students’ autonomy by confronting them with the solution of a problem and by getting them used to writing and speaking about the process of solving it.

The place of the humanities

In the ECE integrated preparatory program,language learning and human training have an equivalent place to that of physics or computer science. Beyond the practice of English and a second modern language, the objective of the language courses
is the discovery of a culture and the preparation for a career in which theinternational aspect will play an important role. The humanities are also part of the preparation for the professional world: understanding the organization of companies and the role of the engineer, asking questions about ethics and reflecting on social and environmental responsibility,
As with scientific and technical subjects, students develop their ” soft skills ” through active teaching.

Team projects

A specificity of the ECE integrated preparatory program is the place given to the project-based pedagogy. The objective is both to learn very
Students learn to work as a team and to organize themselves according to methods that they will find in the professional world. It is also important tolearn by doing, sometimes by making mistakes and doing it differently again… Students have team projects in each subject and also an annual project, the ECE CUP.