International networks and strategic partnerships 

Centrale Lille develops and implements its international strategic positioning through active participation in international networks of leading higher education and research establishments.  

The Écoles Centrale international network 

Opened in 2015, Centrale Casablanca awards a Moroccan and French State engineer’s degree in three years (after preparatory class). Centrale Casablanca is the leading general engineering school in Morocco and on the African continent. Its innovative teaching methods and programmes, focused on the major challenges facing the continent, are designed to train engineers of the highest scientific level, with a multidisciplinary culture and a broad outlook on the world. 

Centrale Casablanca

Director General : Ghita Lahlou 

Deputy Director General: Adnane Boukamel  

International Relations Director: Mohammed Boubou 

A pioneer of Franco-Chinese institutes that have since spread throughout China, École Centrale Beijing was created in 2005 as a partnership between Beihang University (Beijing University of Aeronautics and Aerospace) and the Centrale Group of Schools, with the support of the Chinese and French Ministries of Education. It is an international engineering school designed to train high-level generalist engineers, combining the French engineering training model with Beihang University’s expertise in the fields of aeronautics, astronautics, and information technology.  

Centrale Beijing welcomes around one hundred Chinese engineering students per cohort. Engineering students follow a 6-year curriculum divided into three preparatory years (intensive study of French language and the French Grandes Écoles scientific foundation course) and 3 years of engineering studies leading to a dual Chinese and French degree (Beihang Master’s diploma and Centrale Beijing engineering diploma accredited by the CTI).  

Centrale Pékin

Co-directors : Frédéric Genty et Guanxin HONG 

Deputy Director/Director of Studies : Mariem Kacem-Boureau 

Founded in August 2014, Mahindra Ecole Centrale is a collaboration between Indian company Mahindra, Centrale Group and JNTU Hyderabad University. Mahindra Ecole Centrale offers a four-year engineering course and awards its students the Indian state Bachelor’s degree. 

The first two years are modelled on the two years of preparatory classes for the Grandes Écoles in France. Introductory engineering courses are gradually being introduced, along with management and creativity courses. The final two years allow students to specialise (mechanical engineering, computer & software engineering, electrical engineering, and civil engineering).  

Mahindra École Centrale rounds off its range of courses with Master’s and PhD degrees in a dozen specialisations ranging from data science and power electronics to robotics and transport engineering.  

Mahindra Ecole Centrale

Director: Dr. Bishnu P Pal 

Director of Studies: Vijay Chellaboina 

Director of Research and Development: Dr. Arya Kumar Bhattacharya 

The Fédération Gay Lussac and the Franco-Chinese chemistry institutes in Beijing and Shanghai 

The Franco-Chinese Institut Chimie Beijing (BUCT-Paris Curie Engineering School) is an engineering school resulting from a partnership between the Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT) and the Fédération Gay-Lussac, opened in 2017 (Consortium made up of Chimie ParisTech – coordinator, CPE Lyon, ENSCL, ENSGTI Pau and Toulouse INP ENSIACET).  

 Chemicals Beijing offers both a 3-year preparatory course similar to that of the integrated preparatory classes of the Fédération Gay-Lussac and a French-style engineering course that meets the criteria for both Chinese diplomas and the title of engineer in France. During the engineering cycle, students choose one of the following specialisations: 

  • Materials science 
  • Chemical engineering 
  • Bioengineering

Nearly 30% of science lessons are in French, and some students are offered a period of study or work experience in France. Student engineers from the Fédération Gay-Lussac can also be hosted in Beijing on mobility semester(s). English is also a compulsory language on the course.  

 Each year, Chemicals Beijing recruits around 80 students, 1/3 of whom are women, all of whom are Chinese and are recruited at Gaokao level (unified Chinese exam for recruiting students into higher education).  

Chemicals Beijing

Offered in partnership with the East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) since 2009, the ECUST programme has been recognised as a Chinese excellence initiative by the Chinese Ministry of Education since 2019.  

 The programme officially became a joint “Chemicals Shanghai” institution (or International Elite Engineering School) at the start of the September 2019 academic year.  

Training at Chimie Shanghai takes place over 6 years: the first 3 years take place at the Chinese University, with scientific teaching and learning of the French language, then the following 3 years take place in the schools of the Federation, with a final year of specialisation and a 6-month work placement.  

Each year, Chimie Shanghai welcomes 80 students from 18 Chinese provinces, including 30 girls, who follow a programme of courses very similar to those taught in the FGL’s integrated preparatory classes, with the addition of French language classes.  

 After 3 years, around forty students continue their training in France in one of the Federation’s schools. This programme is headed in France by Jacques Mercadier (ENSGTI Pau) and Régis Gauthier (ENSCR).  

campus du GEC

T.I.M.E. Network Association 

Founded in Paris in 1989 and initially focused on Europe, the Top International Managers in Engineering Association (T.I.M.E. Association) is a network of 57 leading science and technology universities and engineering schools in 25 countries whose mission is to support collaborative action between its members to develop the international dimension of higher education and research. Outside Europe, it now has members in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, and Russia.  

Among other activities, a number of double degree agreements have been signed, benefiting both Centrale Lille students and international students from partner universities wishing to continue their studies at our institution.  

 For Centrale Lille, this is one of the main ways of developing incoming and outgoing student mobility, but it is also a tool for recognising the quality of the institution’s international training. 

Franco-German University (UFA) 

Founded in 1997 and funded equally by France and Germany, the Franco-German University (Deutsch-Französische Hochschule or DFH in German and Université franco-allemande or UFA in French) promotes Franco-German and European cooperation in higher education and research.   .  

This international academic institution brings together 208 higher education and research establishments, and its main mission is to initiate, evaluate and participate in the funding of Franco-German courses in various disciplines, including the exact sciences and engineering.   

Reaching an audience of more than 6,100 students, its programmes are delivered in more than 140 university towns by the best universities, grandes écoles and Fachhochschulen in France, Germany, and other countries. The UFA represents almost 200 integrated degree courses and 34 Franco-German doctoral schools.  

The Groupe des Écoles Centrale works specifically with five German technology universities on double degree programmes supported by the UFA: RWTH, TU Berlin, TU Darmstadt, TU Dresden, and TU Munich. 

 RMEI (Mediterranean Network of Engineering Schools)  

Housed at Centrale Marseille, the RMEI is a global, non-profit organisation dedicated to improving engineering and management education in the Mediterranean region.   

The RMEI was created by the need to promote the scientific, cultural, and human wealth of the countries around the Mediterranean, and was originally intended as a response to the Erasmus programme, which did not cover the Mediterranean area.  

It works for the benefit of students, higher education institutions, businesses, and public bodies through networking activities, think tanks, workshops and seminars, research missions and programmes, cultural events, etc. 

It now includes some sixty engineering and management courses in countries such as Albania, Algeria, Brazil, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.