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Fédération Gay-Lussac

A word from the President of the Federation

The Engineering Schools gathered together in the Fédération Gay-Lussac (FGL) are 19 higher education establishments whose mission is that of teaching and research. These FGL Schools include 6000 student engineers in training, about 1500 engineers who graduate per year and 1100 PhD students in the laboratories. These schools attract good pupils, and aim to respond to the ever-changing requirements of companies. They also play an important role in the education, at the level of a master’s, by giving a chemical engineering diploma to people who are open to the economic and industrial world.

Teaching these future chemists and chemical engineers is to prepare them so that they are able to confront the challenges involved in this discipline and also respond to the scientific and technological challenges. This education is to prepare the students to be actors in economic development in a context of rapid technological evolution, strong and intense competition and globalization.

Chemistry constituted the industrializing industry par excellence which led to the economic development of the 20th century. Chemistry is a science which we identify with a particular sector of industrial activity. However, the degree of mastery of chemistry today gives it a key role because of its capacity to offer innovative solutions and leads to progress in many different domains : health, agro-food, environment, energy, automobile, aeronautics, electronics… and the domains where the contribution of the chemist is not always visible but well and truly present. In fact, the chemistry industrial sector represents less than half the number of jobs of chemists.

Teaching chemical engineers is to develop their multidisciplinary talents, their enthusiasm for innovation and that of taking on the challenge of sustainable development which is now an obligatory part within companies. These engineers will be actors in sustainable development thus reconciling the ordinary citizen with chemistry.

The Fédération Gay-Lussac with its 19 schools offers a very wide education in chemistry and chemical engineering. The path to becoming an engineer is a programme of acquisition of knowledge, and a programme of development of one’s competence. Adjusting the course for the best adequacy of the education with future employment is to notably develop three points:

• First of all, a strong link with companies: these companies are partners in the education of our students by welcoming them on internships, etc. The Schools have traditionally strong research partnerships and pay particular attention to their activities, from the transfer of technology to company creation.
• Secondly, it is equally important to develop a strong international link: all our Schools have now integrated work experience in a foreign country as part of the students’ studies and our Schools each have ambitious international projects.
• Finally, it is to develop a strong link with research: the laboratories in our Schools develop their research activities at the best international level with partnerships with universities and research organizations such as the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research). Research and innovation are the keys to economic development today.