“India has the best brains for engineering”

The country that is almost iconographic to ‘engineering’ is unflinchingly, France. For centuries and decades, French engineering have been quite a factor of ‘trust’ for industries, academicians and students. On the other hand, India, possessing engineered brains have been quite a talent acquisition field for international engineering institutions and industry.

In the recent visit to Indian engineering colleges including University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun, Mr. Jean Pierre Trotignon, Executive Director, ‘n+i’, network of 45 French Post Graduate Engineering Schools spoke about the Indo-French relationship on engineering education and future opportunities.

- How does your experience go with the Indian students travelling to France for engineering?

Since the last twenty years, more than 250 Indian students have come to France to learn engineering in all fields including agricultural, architectural, civil and every other form. Students from India have always been well prepared. We have had tie-ups and student exchange with Delhi Technological University, BITS Pilani, VIT Vellore and more. This exchange provides a rich international exposure giving a great opportunity to Indian and French students to learn from each other about the culture and the way of working.


- How do you think India and France can collaborate for better?

The idea is to involve more and more companies to provide industry scholarships for funding academics and tuition fees. The French Embassy has more than 500 sponsored scholarships. Companies like Michelin, Alten, Airbus, Dassault have sponsored scholarships for Indian engineering students. We are planning to develop double graduation programme where Indian students can go to France and French students can come to India to complete their course.


- How do you choose students and help them get along with the French way of living?

To begin with, we look at the academic results and the universities. However, the most important and mandatory part is the interview. ‘N+i’ network actually comes up with innovative programmes for students to understand the culture better before joining. For example, we have newly created a two-week programme with UPES to give Indian students a taste of France. In June, selected students will be travelling to Paris for a week to understand the culture and aeronautic and space engineering. We also have similar exposure travels for pre-Master and pre-Doctorate programmes


- How does the VISA support students?

We practically have no restrictions. Moreover the ‘n+i’ network helps the students to go through the visa process smoothly. The visa also provides a national work permit. If students want, they can continue working in France.