Pedagogical objectives
The Civil Engineering program at Mines Nancy aims to train future engineers who, by virtue of their duties, will find themselves at the heart of unprecedented challenges, but also future leaders who will have to fundamentally rethink the organization of our economy and society and accompany change, and future citizens who will have to shed light on public debates, particularly on technological issues, and even become involved in political life.
To achieve this goal, the FICM has a pedagogy built around four pillars:
- A solid command of a fundamental scientific base (mathematics, physics, computer science, environment)
- In-depth knowledge of applied and technical sciences in a specialized field
- Lessons in human, economic, social and legal sciences
- The development of teamwork skills (management, modern languages, multicultural or transdisciplinary context, project management, safety, etc.)
Targeted skills
At the end of their training, Mines Nancy student-engineers will be able to mobilize skills in the four pillars presented above:
- to manage complex systems, whether artificial or natural, by making the best possible use of modeling, optimization by simulation, and the visualization of data or simulation results, in order to understand, analyze, predict, and communicate effectively with various stakeholders
- to apply specialized knowledge from scientific research to technological, economic or financial applications in the various sectors of industry or services.
- to manage industrial systems, service activities or organizations in an optimal way, helped by skills in economics and management, necessary for the management of companies or national or international organizations.
- to collaborate with the professional world of industry, services and local authorities, from the experience and permanent support of the Direction des Relations Entreprises et du Développement (DRED).
- to innovate and manage innovative projects in the various sectors of economic activity, in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and social responsibility, with the support of the "Mineral Industry and Territory" chair and the "Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility" unit.
- to be open to employees with complementary skills such as design or business, thanks to the Artem alliance, and to employees from a variety of foreign cultures, with the support of the International Action Department and the "Foreign Languages and Cultures" department.
- to reflect and exchange on humanities, to discover and take into account the diversity of foreign cultures and societies, the global economic and financial environment, as well as environmental issues with the support of the "Equality, Diversity, Inclusion" and "Socio-Ecological Transformation" units of Mines Nancy.
- The FICM engineer is a generalist engineer, with a more pronounced training in one of the fields taught in the scientific department that the student chooses from the 2nd year of training: Computer Science, Industrial Engineering and Applied Mathematics, Energy, Materials Science or Geosciences and Civil Engineering.
The diploma awarded by the École des Mines de Nancy is unique in that it covers a wide range of engineering professions, while guaranteeing a solid common base acquired throughout the course. To obtain their diploma, students must have validated all the compulsory skill blocks (blocks 1 to 3) and at least one of the optional skill blocks (among blocks 4 to 9) described below:
- Leading a systemic approach to managing people in an industrial or entrepreneurial environment through agile communication
- Leading a systemic approach to the management of industrial or entrepreneurial structures
- Manage a complete Production Chain for an industrial product, energy or services
- Mobilize and put into action Computer Sciences and associated Technologies
- Mobilize and put into action Data Sciences
- Mobilize and put into action the Sciences of Energy and the Environment
- Mobilize and Put into Action the Sciences of Materials and the Environment
- Mobilize and put into action the Sciences of the Subsoil and the Environment
The architecture and program of the engineering program
The Ingénieur Civil des Mines program takes place over three academic years, divided into five semesters of teaching (which cannot be offset against each other and are each awarded 30 ECTS credits) and three internship periods of a minimum cumulative duration of 36 weeks. Over the course of the program (S5 to S9), 60% of the courses are devoted to the sciences, 25% to economic, legal and social sciences and 15% to languages.
The teaching method
The differentiated teaching method at Mines Nancy aims to support students in the construction of their personal and professional project and allows each student to build a personalized training program. The wide range of courses on offer allows students to make a number of motivated choices, particularly in the second and third years, and thus to build their own personalized training program (1900 hours on average). The aim is to engage the student in a distanced reflection, and in a permanent learning dynamic that guarantees his future professional development.
Learner-centered teaching methods have been part of the school's DNA since 1957 and the Schwartz method set up by the director of the same name. The Schwartz Method has since evolved with the times but has retained its basic principles. A normal teaching unit consists of one hour of "class" and two hours of tutorial work. Before the course, the student acquires the basics of his teaching from a learning guide provided by the teacher (handouts, videos, ...). The "course" is thus essentially an interactive question-and-answer session between the teacher and the students and is very similar to a flipped classroom. In tutorials, students are grouped in groups of four and work at their own pace while helping each other. The tutor goes from group to group to question and help the students as they progress. The objective is to avoid a top-down collective correction but rather to encourage learning to work in groups and interactive creativity.
The training is also based on practical exercises in the form of projects supervised mainly by the school's teacher-researchers.
In the end, 25% of the teaching is given in the form of lectures, 50% in the form of seminars and 25% in the form of projects.
The school has a large number of pedagogical facilities: open spaces, amphitheaters, teaching rooms, "project" rooms with increasing degrees of technology from the simple whiteboard to the interactive whiteboard, video-conferencing; innovation and creativity rooms; video-course (or tele-course) rooms; rooms equipped with touch-screen tables and 3D printers; reconfigurable rooms; immersive augmented reality room; interactive whiteboards. The school also has a Tech Lab with a variety of equipment: autonomous robotics, 5G platform, electronics workshop, mechanical workshop, biotechlab, scanning electron microscope, machines configured for artificial intelligence, etc....
The training is based on a time of learning supervised by teachers who do not exceed 25 hours of teaching per week on average and on a time of personal work essential to the development of the engineer's skills in order to integrate and assimilate the learning provided in class.
Evaluation of courses
For more than forty years, the Ecole des Mines de Nancy has been evaluating the quality of its teaching by the students.
At the end of each teaching unit, students individually evaluate the teaching they have received by means of an evaluation form provided by the director of studies. This evaluation will essentially serve the teacher to adjust, if necessary, his or her teaching and the director of studies to have an overall view of the training provided at the school and the developments to be considered.