National Institute for Applied Sciences, Strasbourg

INSA Strasbourg is a public scientific, cultural and professional establishment (EPSCP), under the authority of the Ministry in charge of higher education, and accredited by the engineering qualifications accreditation committee (CTI). The establishment is run by a Director appointed for five years by the ministry in charge of higher education. It is administered by three statutory bodies: a Board of Administration, an Educational Council and a Scientific Council.

Missions of INSA Strasbourg:

• Initial training of engineers and architects
• Continuing education for engineers, architects and managers
• Preparation of other higher education diplomas
• Fundamental and applied research

The INSA model is based on supporting students and staff so that they succeed, whatever their geographical, social or cultural origin, age or gender. At INSA Strasbourg, we believe in encouraging pluralism and seeking diversity in recruitments and the management of student pathways and that it is a factor driving the school’s progress. INSA Strasbourg reinforces the aid given to students so as to enable each of them, whatever their difference, to achieve their professional training objectives.

INSA Strasbourg has a service to help disabled students, the Mission Handicap. It consists of a number of people, including.

• A nurse who can guide students to the right interlocutors.
• Teaching staff, to whom students can talk.
• Administrative staff who help organize the scheme.
• A group of student volunteers, the “Cordée handimanagement”.

INSA Strasbourg wishes to promote the careers of female engineers and architects. Support is available (in the form of bursaries, awareness-raising and communication campaigns) to try and raise the number of female students, which currently stands at 35%. This figure is an average, with proportions of female students varying considerably between specialties (in civil engineering, surveying engineering and architecture, for example, there are more women students).

Being open to the wider world is one of INSA Strasbourg’s core values: every year 250 students go abroad to study and 350 undertake an internship abroad thanks to 21 double degree courses, 60 bilateral agreements and numerous contacts with companies and laboratories abroad.

INSA Strasbourg actively works to go beyond borders, whether geographical (thanks to the Franco-German DeutschINSA course and numerous international partnerships) or disciplinary boundaries. In particular this has led to the creation of a cross-disciplinary engineering/architecture course, but also, more widely, to intersections between disciplines in different areas of training and research.

INSA Strasbourg is constantly changing in line with its environment. At every level, local, national and international, it offers solutions for the major challenges of our time: spatial planning, construction and industry have to integrate solutions conducive to sustainable development.