The Collège des Ingénieurs (French pronunciation: [kɔlɛʒ dez‿ɛ̃ʒenjœʁ], CDI) is an independent international educational institution founded in Paris, France in 1986 and known for its postgraduate management training (MBA, Master of Business Administration). The training model is innovative for management training, it is exclusively aimed at engineers and scientists, directly following scientific education.
The aim of the Collège is to train graduates to combine scientific thinking with entrepreneurial action. The 10-month programme is about understanding economic and entrepreneurial contexts in order to be prepared for a management career.
In addition, the focus is on the personal development of the European graduates.
Theory and practical experience are structured according to an integrated dual model. The training is free of tuition fees. All accepted graduates are financed and supported by the CDI.
Admission to the Collège is based on a rigorous selection process that assesses academic performance and, in particular, the student's aptitude and potential for a management career. For this purpose, selection interviews with an admissions committee are part of the admission process.
The CDI has three locations in Europe (Paris, Munich, Turin) and each year selects around 150 young graduates (engineers, natural scientists) from more than 1,000 applications who have first successfully completed a master's degree or doctorate at a university.
The Collège des Ingénieurs was founded in Paris in 1986 from a group of three leading Grandes Ecoles (Ecole des Ponts et Chausées, Ecole Normale (rue d'Ulm) and the ENGREF) on the initiative of companies. In Germany, the CDI is a recognised partner of the large German companies. The CDI in Italy was founded in partnership with the Agnelli Foundation, the Garrone Foundation and the Pirelli Foundation.
The educational concept is summarised by its Latin motto: "Qui agit intellegit".
Historically closely linked to the world of industry, its graduates (called "Fellows") come from the major European universities and Grandes Ecoles. In France, the CDI mainly accepts graduates from the leading Grandes Ecoles (École polytechnique, CentraleSupélec, Mines Paris, Ponts ParisTech, AgroParisTech, Télécom ParisTech, Espci, Ensta Paris) as well as from the Sorbonne Université, the research university Paris-Sciences-et-Lettres, the Université Paris-Saclay and the Écoles Normales Supérieures. In Germany, its students come from the major state universities of excellence (TU9, RWTH Aachen, Technical University of Munich, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology...). Likewise, in Italy they come from the state universities (Politecnico di Torino, Politecnico di Milano, Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa ...), as well as other European universities of excellence.
Contents
Academics
Master of Business Administration of the Collège des Ingénieurs
Every year, the Collège des Ingénieurs graduates around 120-150 young engineers and scientists (STEM subjects) with a master's degree or higher (doctorate). The ten-month intensive full-time training concludes with an MBA diploma. A project assignment as a junior consultant in a company forms the second pillar of the programme. The programme is alternating, training units with intensive seminars and courses alternate with practical phases in the company.
The graduates at the CDI are employees of the school and work as junior consultants in the partner companies. They support the management there directly in strategy projects or are involved in innovation projects.
The training is financed by the Collège des Ingenieurs and the graduates receive a salary at the college. The list of companies consists mainly of large industrial groups from France, Germany and Italy.
The training consists of thematic seminars assigned to five pillars: Finance, Operations, Innovation, Strategy and Marketing. In addition, Leadership & Personal Development occupy a crucial place in the training. Graduates are trained in particular with the aim of becoming leaders in companies or even company founders. The seminars and courses are held on a rotating basis at the European training bases.
Master classes by company leaders (CEO or chairman), entrepreneurs or personalities from society are also part of the training.
Science and Management Doctoral Programme
In 2009, the Collège des ingénieurs and the Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (now Sorbonne Université) founded the doctoral programme "Science et Management", which leads to the doctoral degrees in natural sciences of the UPMC and the MBA of the CDI.
This doctoral programme was extended to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the same year. However, in addition to doctoral students from the two universities in Paris and Karlsruhe, access is also open to doctoral students from other universities in Europe. Doctoral students from the research universities in Munich (Technical University of Munich and LMU Munich), Heidelberg, ETH Zurich, but also Paris Sciences et Lettres, the University of Paris-Saclay, the Institut Polytechnique de Paris as well as Sant'Anna Pisa are among the graduates of the Science & Management Programme. The programme combines a scientific doctorate at one of the university chairs. In parallel and after graduation, the theoretical and practical training modules take place at the Collège des Ingénieurs.
Copernic Programme
The Copernic Programme is a programme organised in France jointly with the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, which trains graduates from the best universities in Central and Eastern Europe and prepares them for a management career. An intensive six-month training is followed by a full-time assignment in a company. The Copernic programme was financially supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through scholarships for all graduates.
It was launched in 1990. The programme trained over 1000 young graduates, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, who were prepared in France for management careers in their home countries. The focus was on modern management and economic theory (market economy) and institutional framework conditions (parliamentary democracy), combined with a practical assignment in an international company.
Admission
Admission for the MBA programme takes place through an application process.
Admission is merit based and all programmes are tuition free.
On the basis of the academic profile, academic achievements and the personality and motivation of the applicants, the selection committee makes a recommendation for admission. Selection interviews with applicants are conducted with a selection panel in all 3 countries where the CDI is present. The selection juries are composed of representatives from companies.
From France, most graduates come from the French Grandes Ecoles (the ParisTech, Paris-Saclay networks) and the major universities: CentraleSupélec, École des mines, École des ponts, École polytechnique, École normale supérieure, AgroParisTech, Télécom ParisTech, ESPCI, Sorbonne Université.
In Germany, the graduates come mainly from the major state universities: RWTH Aachen University, Technical University of Munich, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Technische Universität Darmstadt, TU Dresden, University of Stuttgart. The CDI works together with some of the organisations that support gifted students (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes and Stiftung der deutschen Wirtschaft (SDW), among others) to enable graduates to gain access to the CDI.
From Italy, graduates come from the major technical universities: Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Turin, University of Padua, University of Bologna, Scuola Superiore Santa Anna in Pisa.
Other graduates come from European universities from Switzerland (ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne), Universidad Politecnica de Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Cambridge (UK), Delft, etc.
International
The Collège des Ingénieurs is a deliberately international institution. In addition to the historical intra-European cooperation (France, Germany, Italy), in which graduates work together in the joint seminar and training blocks, the institution promotes multicultural encounters. Graduates usually come from the three countries where the Collège is located, but a cohort often includes a number of graduates from all over Europe (Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, the UK...) as well as from North America and Asia.
80% of graduates have at least one year of experience abroad (study or research, employment), and 85% are at least trilingual and are among the top graduates of their respective universities.
The Collège des Ingénieurs has training sites in Munich, Paris and Turin.
It is common for graduates to live and work together during seminar blocks. This promotes close exchange between graduates, in an intensive working and learning environment.
Notable graduates (Alumni)
Since 1986, the Collège des Ingénieurs, in association with the main players in European industry, has graduated more than 3000 MBAs (as of 2025) and 1000 fellows of the Copernic programme, who are now working in around 100 countries. The programme has helped train numerous business leaders and executives of global industrial groups, founders of technology companies, managers of innovation and heads of strategy consulting firms. Its graduates are active in Europe, China and North America. Some graduates have also held top-tier leadership positions in society.
Alumni Association
The Alumni Association of the Collège des Ingénieurs in Germany (CDI Alumni Deutschland e.V.) cultivates relations with alumni and organises events such as the annual Alumni Convention, local working groups in workshops, lectures etc., discussion groups and meetings with personalities from science and industry.
The Alumni e.V. was founded on the initiative of 7 alumni in Baden Baden in 2007. The founding president is Dr. Marc Fischer (CDI 2003).
The German Leadership Award has been presented as part of the Alumni Convention since 2014.
History
The Collège des Ingénieurs was initiated in 1986 by a founding group led by Jean Peyrelevade, then president of Compagnie Financière de Suez, and established under the direction of Philippe Mahrer at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausées (now PontsParisTech) in Paris.
According to its founders, there are ideas, principles and methods that cannot be understood through study alone, but only through action in a business context. Thus, the institution's motto is "Qui agit intellegit": "He who acts understands". Since its foundation, the Collège des Ingénieurs has not only trained graduates of the Grandes Ecoles and universities for a management career in companies, it also prepares a selection of future French civil servants (Fonctionnaires d'Etat) for a management career in the French civil service. This is done through cooperation with the Corps des Ponts et Chausées of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and Ecology.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the Collège des Ingénieurs launched a programme for future talent for the integration of Western and Eastern Europe, the Copernic programme. It was aimed at graduates from Central-Eastern Europe and was run in cooperation with large French groups. This programme was launched with the approval of French President François Mitterrand in cooperation with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and three educational institutions in France, the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), the École des Mines de Paris and the École des Ponts et Chaussées. By 2010, the end of the Copernic programme, the Collège des Ingénieurs had trained more than 1000 graduates from Central-Eastern Europe for management careers in industry.
In 1990, the college moves to 49, rue de l'Université, in Paris.
1992: The Collège des Ingénieurs is recognised in France for the award of the Actuarial Diploma (diplome d'actuaire).
1994: The signing of the agreement for a CDI-China Programme with the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China allows graduates of top Chinese universities to graduate from the Collège. The CDI diploma is officially recognised in China. The cooperation was concluded in Dresden in 2019 for another 25 years.