Founded in 1741 under the name of the Royal Shipbuilders’ School, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA) now trains 150 to 200 maritime engineers each year at its Brest and Paris-Saclay sites, accounting for a quarter of all its graduates.
Proudly claiming to be the oldest engineering school in France, historically focused on maritime engineering, the ENSTA has been linked to military shipbuilding. It falls under the Ministry of Armed Forces and trains some of its engineers in Armaments Studies and Techniques (IETA), with 45 per promotion. Despite this military connection, the ENSTA remains a civil higher education institution, expanding its expertise to other sectors such as automotive, aerospace, energy, and digital technology.
As a founding member of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris), along with five other engineering schools, the ENSTA recently underwent an administrative and strategic shift with the merger of ENSTA Paris and ENSTA Bretagne on January 1, 2025. This merger maintains the historical position of the ENSTA, with all diplomas incorporating specialties directly addressing the maritime engineering and marine science fields.
One-third of the training takes place in a corporate setting, ensuring a strong connection with the industrial world. The curriculum is aligned with evolving sectoral challenges, including renewable marine energies, integration of artificial intelligence in onboard systems, new ship propulsion systems, and robotics.
To meet these changing demands, the Brest site, which hosts most of the maritime domain teachings, will unveil a large 240m2 test basin in June, primarily dedicated to testing autonomous observation systems for the marine environment, combining underwater, surface, and airborne drones.
Context: The ENSTA is a prestigious French engineering school specializing in maritime engineering and other technical fields.
Fact Check: The merger of ENSTA Paris and ENSTA Bretagne on January 1, 2025, has created a unified institution present on two campuses in Paris-Saclay and Brest.
