After four years of ambitious collective work, the merger of ENSTA Paris and ENSTA Bretagne was formalized on Wednesday January 1, 2025, giving rise to a single ENSTA institute of engineering. As one of France's top engineering institution, ENSTA is a member of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris and is present on the Paris-Saclay campus in Palaiseau, as well as in the Grand Ouest ecosystem via its campus in Brest. It thereby combines their strengths and expertise, in training and research, in order to meet the strategic challenges of sovereignty in a world seeking to transform itself and adapt to major societal challenges: sustainable energies, transport and mobility, defense and security, digital, maritime, space, health…
The decree formalizing this merger was published on December 1 and was due to take effect on January 1, 2025. The new institution retains its EPSC-GE status and aims to expand its training and research activities by leveraging the expertise and synergies of its teams on the Paris-Saclay campus in Palaiseau and those on its Brest campus. Initiated at the end of 2021, this work is continuing and will lead to a complete overhaul of the engineering course opportunities for the start of the 2026 academic year. From September 2025 onwards, these renewed and extended courses will be presented on the new ENSTA website which is currently being prepared. ENSTA's new visual identity will be unveiled in the coming days.
ENSTA, one of France's top institutes of engineering
As a member of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris) and included in the ecosystems of the Paris-Saclay campus in Palaiseau and the Grand Ouest region, ENSTA now has over 2,000 students, 200 professors and 300 PhD students, 9 renowned research laboratories, some 30 joint chairs and laboratories, and a community of 20,000 alumni.
By expanding its multi-disciplinary offering with a scientific and technical base unrivaled in France and Europe, the school is reinforcing its training and research excellence. This attractiveness and its place among France's top engineering schools will enable it to continue writing the history of the greatest engineering achievements.
A broader range of training courses
The two schools' long-standing training courses will be maintained up to and including the start of the 2025 academic year.
From the start of the 2026 academic year, ENSTA will be offering new engineering courses:
- A general engineering course after the Mines-Ponts competitive entrance examination, on its two campuses (Paris-Saclay and Brest), as a student or co-operative apprentice engineer (apprenticeship contract);
- a multi-disciplinary, specialized engineering course, focused on defense/security/systems, run jointly by ENSTA and ISAE-Supaéro, on 3 campuses (Paris-Saclay, Brest, and Toulouse), as a student or "IETA" military engineering student (under contract with the French defense procurement agency (DGA) or as a co-operative apprentice engineer (under contract with a defense industry company), after successfully passing the Mines-Télécom competitive entrance exam;
- specialized engineering courses, after 2 or 3 years' higher education, as a co-operative apprentice engineer (apprenticeship contract).
These are supplemented by MSc or specialized advanced MSc courses and PhD courses.
Excellence & Innovation
Under the supervision of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans (ministère des Armées et des anciens combattants), alongside École polytechnique and ISAE Supaéro, ENSTA has played a key role in engineering for major industrial and technical sectors since 1741, contributing to the strategic independence of France and its international partners.
Innovation and proficiency in complex systems are in its DNA. The School is involved in training and research in a number of strategic business areas, including transport and mobility, sustainable energies, maritime, defense and security, digital, maritime, space and healthcare, where its graduates are in demand. ENSTA engineers quickly gain access to the responsibilities that interest them, in engineering, management and entrepreneurship. They form a dense network of alumni who are attached to their school.
A rewarding, unifying student life
The new ENSTA will offer its students access to even more dynamic, rewarding student clubs and organizations, as well as joint events and collective projects involving both campuses.
