Ipsa Paris
The Polytechnic Institute of Advanced Sciences [IPSA] is a state-recognised private post graduate school in aerospace engineering located in Ivry-sur-Seine, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse, France. The Engineering Degree issued by IPSA is a French Master's degree recognised by the French Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur since 2011. Founded in 1961, IPSA has been part of IONIS Education Group since 1998.
Campuses
IPSA has 3 campuses in Paris, Toulouse and Lyon.
The IPSA campus in Ivry-sur-seine, the Paris-south campus provides a privileged environment for students. It offers its courses in English language.
The Paris -South campus is a multi-college technology campus spreading over 4000 square meters of classroom space, comprising computer rooms, administrative offices, Laboratories and workshops for practical work on mechanics, electronics and physics, a research laboratory, 300 networked workstations, an equipped cafeteria and several rooms dedicated to about twenty student associations.
The campus allows students of IPSA and ESME Sudria to share student association events. The campus is located near fast food restaurants and cafés, as well as numerous university halls of residence.
The campus in Toulouse also a multi-college one, providing only undergraduate engineering training in French. The campus provides students with pleasant living conditions, collaborative workspaces and a dedicated incubator for start-ups allowing students and young graduate projects to develop in a protected environment.
Toulouse city is called as the aerospace capital of France, because of its passion for aeronautics and collaboration with Airbus, Alcatel, Astrium, Thales and Latécoère, etc. It is one of the largest university centers of higher education in France. It has also partnered with CNES, ONERA and numerous other CNRS laboratories for its research activities.
The campus in Lyon offers only first 2 years of the undergraduate training. All courses are taught in French.
Training and research curriculum
IPSA’s Master’s in Aeronautical Engineering equips it students with general engineering skills, but more importantly, it helps them master the highly specialised skills in aeronautics and space.
It offers a five-year course with five possibilities in the fourth year, viz. energy, spacecraft propulsion and engine, mechanics and aircraft structure, telecommunications, radar and radio navigation, embedded systems, or mechatronics. The students also choose one of ten minors, viz. Entrepreneurship, business marketing, association management, Research Management, Conduct of an international project, project personnel development, Board and consulting, human resource management, cultural management and financial management.
The students have an option to choose Avionics, Aeronautical Systems Design, Space Systems Design and Management and Industrial Logistics in the fifth year, independent of the choice made in the fourth year.
Automotive and maritime transport industries also embrace similar technologies and use similar techniques as the aeronautics industry. Hence the IPSA’s graduates are eligible to work in this industry as well.
Though the very first year of education starts with basic scientific education, aeronautics also has a good amount in addition. Some part of the curriculum is project-based. The Students are given an opportunity brush up their technical and managerial skills with a course offering sanctioned by an MBA in business and international negotiation of the Institut supérieur de gestion. Eleven months of internship are planned in the curriculum.
IPSA has close association with other postgraduate engineering schools with strong theoretical training for research and development jobs.
Corporate conferences and international awareness are there to give additional skills that build critical thinking and the ability of the student to make decisions.
The IPSA Alumni have their own association, the AAEIPSA (IPSA Alumni association). Majority of IPSA Alumni work in the aerospace industry, mainly in research and development and others in the Île-de-France region. Admission to the school is possible after a baccalauréat by succeeding at the competition "Advance" organized in partnership with EPITA and ESME-Sudria. In total, the three schools offer approximately 900 places. It is also possible to enter the school in the second, third or fourth year of studies for students coming from classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles, Bachelor or Master. IPSA also offers Bachelors in Aeronautics. International collaborations Partnerships allowing students to obtain a Master of Science in addition to the degree of IPSA exist with Shenyang Aerospace University in China, Cranfield University in the UK, Moscow State University in Russia, the Université Laval in Canada and the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. Students also have access to the Erasmus Programme. The university has bilateral agreements with The University of Arizona, University of California, San Diego. Research In 2011, IPSA features three research laboratories: 3D computer graphics and calculation, mechatronics, and fluid mechanics applied to aerodynamics. The laboratory of 3D computer graphics and calculation investigates new algorithms to solve problems of processing and analysis of signals and images. An agreement of partnership with the laboratoire des signaux et systèmes (L2S) (signals and systems laboratory), a laboratory of CNRS based at Supélec, was signed in 2010. In 2006, IPS'action association launched the UNIV'air challenge in order to present students with research projects in partnership with the Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France and other universities such as SUPAERO or EPF. In 2008, a UAVs project named "Hélitronix" and realized by students and researchers of the mechatronics laboratory was selected during the Minidrone challenge funded by DGA and organized by ONERA. The same laboratory works on the "Perseus project" which consists of the development of rockets for CNES, in partnership with the AéroIPSAstudent association. Moreover, IPSA participates in the cluster ASTech Paris Région. It contributes to its development in many sectors: aircraft engine, onboard energy, aircraft design, material, training and research, and maintenance. In November 2011, the laboratory of fluid mechanics applied to aerodynamics adopted a new calculation tool allowing for the commissioning of a digital wind tunnel by the end of 2011. A team from the university has received the 2011 GIFAS award for the student aerospace challenge.
