École nationale des ponts et chaussées (; ; ENPC), also nicknamed Ponts (), formerly known temporarily as École des Ponts ParisTech (), is a grande école in the field of science, engineering and technology, of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris, a public research university. Founded in 1747 by Daniel-Charles Trudaine, it is one of the oldest and one of the most prestigious French Grandes Écoles.
Historically, its primary mission has been to train engineering officials and civil engineers but the school now offers a wide-ranging education including computer science, applied mathematics, civil engineering, mechanics, finance, economics, innovation, urban studies, environment and transport engineering. École des Ponts is today largely international: 43% of its students obtain a double degree abroad, and 30% of an ingénieur cohort is foreign.
It is headquartered in Marne-la-Vallée (suburb of Paris), France, and was a founding member of ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology) and of the Paris School of Economics. The school is under the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy of France. Since 16 July 2024, the school has been a constituent member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.Décret n° 2024-818 du 15 juillet 2024 modifiant le décret n° 2019-549 du 31 mai 2019 portant création de l'établissement public expérimental Institut polytechnique de Paris et approbation de ses statuts
History
1747–1794: Origins Following the creation of the Corps of Bridges and Roads in 1716, the King's Council decided in 1747 to found a specific training course for the state's engineers, as École royale des ponts et chaussées. In 1775, the school took its current name as École nationale des ponts et chaussées, by Daniel-Charles Trudaine, in a moment when the state decided to set up a progressive and efficient control of the building of roads, bridges and canals, and in the training of civil engineers.
The school's first director, from 1747 until 1794, was Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, engineer, civil service administrator and a contributor to the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Without lecturer, fifty students (among whom Lebon, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Pierre-Simon Girard, Riche de Prony, Méchain and Brémontier), initially taught themselves geometry, algebra, mechanics and hydraulics. Visits of building sites, cooperations with scientists and engineers and participation to the drawing of the map of the kingdom used to complete their training, which was usually four to twelve years long.
1794–1848: Growth and industrialisation During the First French Empire run by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814, a number of members of the Corps of Bridges and Roads (including Barré de Saint-Venant, Belgrand, Biot, Cauchy, Coriolis, Dupuit, Fresnel, Gay-Lussac, Navier, Vicat) took part in the reconstruction of the French road network that had not been maintained during the Revolution, and in large infrastructural developments, notably hydraulic projects. Under the orders of the emperor, French scientist Gaspard Riche de Prony, second director of the school from 1798 to 1839, adapts the education provided by the school in order to improve the training of future civil engineers, whose purpose is to rebuild the major infrastructures of the country: roads, bridges, but also administrative buildings, barracks and fortifications. Prony is now considered as a historical and influential figure of the school. During the twenty years that followed the First Empire, the experience of the faculty and the alumni involved in the reconstruction strongly influenced its training methods and internal organisation. In 1831, the school opens its first laboratory, which aims at concentrating the talents and experiences of the country's best civil engineers. The school also gradually becomes a place of reflection and debates for urban planning.
1848–1945: The big works As a new step in the evolution of the school, the decree of 1851 insists on the organisation of the courses, the writing of an annual schedule, the quality of the faculty, and the control of the students' works. For the first time in its history, the school opens its doors to a larger public. At this time, in France, the remarkable development of transports, roads, bridges and canals is strongly influenced by engineers from the school (Becquerel, Bienvenüe, Caquot, Carnot, Colson, Coyne, Freyssinet, Résal, Séjourné), who deeply modernised the country by creating the large traffic networks, admired in several European countries.
1945–1997: Modernisation
After the Second World War, the school focused on developing the link between economics and engineering. As civil engineering was requiring increasingly higher financial investments, the state needed engineers to be able to understand the economic situation of post-war Europe. From then on, the program of the school had three different aspects: scientific and technic, social, and economic. Gradually, the number of admitted students increased in order to provide both the Corps of Bridges and Roads and the private sector highly trained young engineers. At the time, technical progress and considerable development of sciences and techniques used in building, urbanism and the protection of the environment imposed a change of strategy in the training programme. More specialisations were progressively created and the overall programme was adapted to national issues.
Academics
École des Ponts is a Grande école, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of the French public university system. Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and C9 League in China, Grandes Écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process.What are Grandes Ecoles Institutes in France? Alums go on to occupy elite positions within government, administration, and corporate firms in France.Monique de Saint-Martin, « Les recherches sociologiques sur les grandes écoles : de la reproduction à la recherche de justice », Éducation et sociétés 1/2008 (No. 21), . lire en ligne sur Cairn.infoValérie Albouy et Thomas Wanecq, Les inégalités sociales d’accès aux grandes écoles (2003), INSEE
Although they are more expensive than public universities in France, Grandes Écoles typically have much smaller class sizes and student bodies, and many of their programs are taught in English. International internships, study abroad opportunities, and close ties with government and the corporate world are a hallmark of the Grandes Écoles. Many of the top ranked institutes and business schools in Europe are members of the (CGE), as is École des Ponts; out of the 250 business schools in France, only 39 are CGE members.
École des Ponts offers high-level programmes in an extensive range of fields, with traditional competences in mathematics, computer science, civil engineering, mechanics, economics, finance, environment, transport, town & regional planning, logistics and innovation. It is among the schools called "généralistes", which means that students receive a broad, management-oriented and non-specialised education. The school also offers specialized/research masters and PhDs, and a design school, with programmes in innovation and startup creation. Degrees from École des Ponts are accredited by the and awarded by the Ministry of National Education (France) (). Its Business School is further accredited by the elite international business school accrediting organizations and it holds double accreditation: The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and Association of MBAs (AMBA)
Ranking
National ranking (ranked for its Master of Sciences in Engineering) NameYearRankDAUR Rankings20223
Times Higher Education ranked these Grandes Écoles in the top 10 worldwide (small universities: fewer than 5,000 students):
Times Higher Education – top 10small universities worldwide20192021École des Ponts ParisTech9th7th
The Ingénieur programme
Curriculum
This undergraduate-graduate engineering programme is the original and main programme offered by the school. It is quite different from typical university or college studies and specific to the French system of Grandes Écoles. The Ingénieur degree of École des Ponts – the Diplôme d'Ingénieur – is equivalent to a Master of Science (including a Bachelor of Science).
Admissions
Admissions for engineering students is mostly done after scientific preparatory classes (MP, PSI, PC) through the highly selective "Mines-Ponts" competitive entrance exams. Some places are open each year to French and foreign university students as well as BCPST (biology) scientific preparatory classes
École des Ponts recruits among the top 4% of the students in preparatory classes.
Master's degrees
École des Ponts offers a wide range of master's degrees, drawing on its historical domains of expertise. Some of them are in partnership with other high-profile institutions.
Applied Mathematics option
Mathematics for finance and data (MFD) Mathematics, Vision, Learning (MVA) Modelling, Analysis, Simulation (MAS) Operational Research (RO) Probabilities and Random Models (PMA)
Energy option
Energy Transition At Local Scale (TET)
Mechanics option – co-accreditation with Sorbonne University
Multiscale Approaches for Materials and Structures (AMMS) Durability of Materials and Structures (DMS)
Civil Engineering option – co-accreditation with UGE
Mechanics of Soils, Rocks, and Structures in their Environment (MSROE)
Materials Science and Engineering option – co-accreditation with UGE
Materials Science for Sustainable Construction (SMCD)
Transportation, Mobility, Networks option – co-accreditation with IP Paris, PSL, École d'Urbanisme de Paris (UGE & UPEC)
Transportation, Mobility (TM) Transportation and Sustainable Development (TraDD)
Nuclear Engineering
Decommissioning and Waste Management
Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Economics option – co-accreditation with Université Paris Saclay, Université Paris Nanterre and IFP School
Environmental Economics Economics of Energy Prospective Modeling Transport and Mobility Economics
Analysis and political Economypolicy option – co-accreditation with Université Paris 1, PSL et EHESS
Analysis and Political Economy (APE)
Applied Economics option – co-accreditation with PSL et EHESS
Public Policies and Development (PPD)
Master of Science - with Paris School of Economics
MSc – Master of Science Sustainable Impact of Analysis (SIA)
Executive masters programmes
The School delivers 14 Executive Masters ("Mastère Spécialisé"):
Sustainable Real Estate and Building, Energy and Digital Transitions (IBD) BIM, Integrated Design and Life Cycles of Buildings and Infrastructures (BIM) Spatial Planning and Urban Development Digital Twins for Infrastructures and Cities Civil Engineering and Ecodesign (GCE) Engineering of Large Energy Structures (GCGOE) Railway and Urban Transport System Engineering Smart Mobility Critical Materials Infrastructure Project Finance (IPF) Supply Chain Design and Management Management of Energy Projects Public Policies and Actions for Sustainable Development (PAPDD) Advanced Public Action Morocco
PhDs
The laboratories of the school host many PhD students (and classical CIFRE theses) wishing to engage in research, the financing of which is done mainly through corporate chairs. Ecole nationale des ponts et chaussées was welcoming, in 2023–2024, 673 PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in its 12 laboratories. The Ingénieur programme students have the opportunity to complete their training with a PhD in the school's laboratories, or to prepare for it by pursuing a research Masters in these laboratories during their third year.
École des Ponts Business School