Engineering work placements

Work placements are an essential part of future engineers' curriculum. For students, they represent a key stage in the construction of their professional project and in their preparation to work in industry.
Placements contribute to the implementation of the education given. In this way students can face the reality of working life and learn to understand corporate issues.

ENSIACET students (under student status) must complete three placements during their curriculum:

• a “first contact with the world of work” placement of 1 to 2 months in a company at the end of the first year (July and August),
• an “application” placement of 4 to 5 months in a company or in a research laboratory at the end of the second year (May, June, July, August and September),
• an “engineer” placement of 5 to 6 months in a company or in a laboratory according to the professional project at the end of the third year (from March to September).

At the end of the three years, each student must have experienced at least three months abroad and 28 weeks of placement in a company.

3^rd year work placement

• Discover the workplace, how the company works, its specific mechanisms and the range of jobs there.
• Understand the environment of different departments, the tools and methods used, work organization, administrative and collective rules.
• Analyze, understand and gain an interest in industrial processes, experimental protocols or production procedures.  
• Get to know how to complete certain operational tasks within a team or service.

4^th year work placement

• Take part in realizing a technical/scientific project by integrating tools and methods used, with the added complexity of setting up a professional situation.
• To know how to apply scientific concepts with rigor and a sense of initiative.
• To know how to analyze results obtained with a critical eye and summarize in a clear, synthetic fashion.

5^th year work placement

• To be capable of leading an engineering task well by taking the scientific, technical, economic, environmental, organizational, regulatory, ethic and social aspects into account.
• To initiate project management.
• To show initiative and respond to a proposed situation in a pertinent manner.
• To know how to take stock of a project and defend its results, in written and oral form, adapting to the given audience.