About the MSEI teaching Program
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Toulouse-INP University
Toulouse hosts four universities among which the INPT – Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse[1] trains 6,000 students in six Schools of Engineering delivering graduate engineering diploma specialized in various technical domains. They concern agronomy (ENSAT school), Meteorology (ENM school), chemistry, chemical and industrial engineering (ENSIACET school), electronics, computer, hydraulics, information technology (ENSEEIHT school), food science and management (EIP school), manufacturing and mechanics (ENIT school).
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MSEI students
The MSEI is a graduate level diploma welcoming a mix of 24 students: 12 in their last year of engineering degree from the aforementioned schools of engineering and 12 people with a professional background, with no technical requirements but a graduate level. Typically, we accepted in the past people that had worked in tourism, NGO project supervision, healthcare, aircraft engineering, running a copyshop, librarian…. Such a mix in recruited students is an invaluable strength for the diploma, esp. during the project-oriented collective sessions where solutions are more valuable than when designed by engineering background students only ! Teaching is in French.
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MSEI 1 year Graduate studies
Acknowledging the rise of concern for sustainability in society as a whole, and therefore in teaching engineering, INPT launched in 2014 a 1 year graduate specialisation “Mastere specialise en Eco-Ingénierie” (MSEI) (website at [1]). The full translation and explanation of “Eco-ingénierie” into english is “engineering for ecosystems involved in ecological, economical and environmental transitions”. Furthermore, the meaning we give to ecosystems is ecological systems including people on the same level than nature and undergoing sustainable growth.
[1] http://www.inp-toulouse.fr/fr/formations/l-offre-de-formation/mastere-et-dhet/msei.html
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MSEI teaching perspective
With a project-oriented cursus aiming at breaking the old teaching frame of courses/homeworks, the MSEI cursus implements active learning, for example reverse classes with interdisciplinary teachers and 25% of the school time is devoted to a group project with topics provided by external institutions, be it SME, large groups or public institutions. But, what we consider the greatest specificity in teaching is the one we have selected for the entry in the IchemE Sustainability Teaching Award 2018, namely the “acting/ thinking in complexity” competency in individual and collective reflexive portfolio as an active learning tool for eco-engineers.