CDEFI releases its 2024 overview of French Engineering Schools

At its annual conference in Montpellier on 6 and 7 June, CDEFI unveiled its latest overview of French Engineering Schools covering the academic year 2022-2023.

Every year since 2016, CDEFI gathers information on the activity of Engineering Schools through an online data collection campaign, providing an overview of French higher education in Engineering.
CDEFI would like to thank the schools and their teams for their collaboration and availability, as well as the members of the DEFI data collection steering committee for the quality of their contributions aimed at improving the survey.

In 2024, 90% of the schools completed the survey, demonstrating their commitment to the collective project of producing this overview, which makes it possible to objectify their activities and inform the public about their characteristics. 
Like last year, a presentation video comes with the written report on the schools' key figures. This video is designed as  promotional material for the French Engineering Schools and CDEFI's various contacts, institutions, partners, young people seeking guidance, etc. 

Let's now take a look at the key figures in this overview, which presents the data collected as part of our survey, put together with those gathered by other organisations and institutions such as the CTI or the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research in 2022-2023.

Student population

In 2022-2023,  a total of around 250,000 students, all courses combined, was enrolled in Engineering Schools. Among them, some 197,000 were preparing for an Engineering Degree in 3 or 5 years, while 3,600 were enrolled in Bachelor's programmes in science and engineering. 

Looking at the type of enrolment, 52% of Engineering students were enrolled in state schools that are under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, a percentage down six points comparing to 2021-2022, followed by private schools (35%) and state Schools supervised by another Ministry (13%). It is interesting to note that almost 17% of Engineering students are enrolled in an apprenticeship. 

In addition, women account for 32% of all Engineering School students, with a relatively higher proportion in state Schools supervised by a so-called "technical" Ministry.

Admissions

According to Ministry data from Parcoursup, more than 18,000 Baccalaureate holders were admitted to French Engineering Schools at the start of the 2023 academic year. As in the previous year, more than half of these new Engineering students in their first year of study are entering a state school. The speciality courses most commonly taken in the final year of secondary school are "mathematics + physics", which account for 54% of all new students.

In addition, the DEFI database shows that there will be around 45,000 new students at the start of the 2023 academic year. In recent years, the profiles of admitted students have diversified, with a decline in the proportion of students coming from preparatory classes for the grandes écoles (CPGE) in favour of integrated preparatory cycles (CPI). 

Currently, 35% of new students enter an Engineering School after a CPGE, while CPIs account for 36% of admissions.

Graduates

Engineering Schools issued more than 46,500 Engineering diplomas in 2022, a fairly stable number. State schools are the main source of Engineering graduates with apprentice status, accounting for almost 40% of graduates in 2022.

International

Around 48,000 international students were enrolled in Engineering Schools, representing more than 20% of the total, with 4% from within the European Union and 16% from outside.
In addition, half of the students enrolled in specialised Masters and PhD programmes are of foreign nationality.

Some fifty schools are involved in campuses abroad throughout the world, with the exception of Oceania and North America.  
As far as traineeship abroad are concerned, 40% of the total number of students enrolled in Engineering Schools have undertaken international internships. 

Research

Nearly 4,500 doctoral theses were completed under the responsibility of a team that included at least one Engineering School staff member in 2021, representing 68% of all theses defended in Exact Science.

Professional integration

The employment rate for young Engineering School graduates is 96%, with an average time to find a first job of four months after graduation.

Open-ended contracts  are the most common, and the main sectors in which they are hired are IT and information services (17%), construction and public works (11%), and the automotive, aeronautical, shipbuilding and rail industries (10%).


For more detailed information, you can consult and download the booklet available below (only available in French)..