Institut national des sciences appliquées de Toulouse


The Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse or INSA Toulouse is a French grande école of engineering, under the authority of the French Ministry of Education and Research. Situated in Toulouse, this school is one of the 6 state engineering institutes that compose the INSA network.
The school was founded in 1963 to train highly qualified engineers, foster continuous training and scientific research. It is a member of the University of Toulouse since 2007. Even though INSA Toulouse is highly selective, diversity and international openness are two values to which INSA Toulouse gives priority: the school is composed of 38% female students, 32% of students are scholarship holders, and 23% of students are international.
The INSA Toulouse is located along the Canal du Midi on the university campus that includes Université Paul Sabatier III, Supaero and ENAC. Along with those schools, INSA Toulouse is a founding member of the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, the association of universities and higher education institutions, which is reconstituting the collective Université de Toulouse. As a member, INSA Toulouse coordinates the training offers and the research and transfer strategies of 31 public university and research establishments within the Occitanie region, has its own budgetary allocation, and can issue diplomas. Among others, this membership includes all large campuses in Toulouse: Capitole University, Jean Jaurès, Paul Sabatier University, TBS Education, Sciences Po Toulouse, ISAE-SUPAERO, as well as the 7 grandes écoles of the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse. Within the Université de Toulouse, INSA Toulouse also awards double-diplomas in engineering and business administration with TBS Education, Toulouse School of Management, and joint training with IMT Mines Albi, ISAE-SUPEARO and INP-ENSEEIHT.
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Academics

INSA Toulouse is one of several engineering schools within the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées network under the supervision of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (France) , as are INSA engineering schools. Degrees from INSA are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles'' and awarded by the Ministry of National Education (France).

Diplômes d'Ingénieur

New European program

In 2002, INSA Toulouse decided to reform its structure to adapt to the European 3/5/8 system. The Engineering degree is obtained after five years of studies. The new programme, better adapted to the social and economic environment, includes a one-year common core, two years of pre-specialization and two years of specialization.
The selection level at INSA Toulouse has greatly increased since the European reform, and it now makes the INSA Toulouse one of the most elitist universities in France, with an average grade at the Baccalauréat exam of 17.05/20, equivalent to the grades 1.0 or A in Anglo-Saxon countries.

Specializations

INSA Toulouse offers master level degrees in the following 8 specializations:
Note that other specializations are possible in the other INSAs.

Research Masters

In parallel of the regular Masters in Engineering, students may also follow one of the research masters, taught in French:
  • Civil Engineering: Sustainable Engineering – research and innovation in materials and structures
  • Mechanical/Energy/Thermic Engineering: Fluid dynamics, Energetics and Transfers
  • Mechanical Engineering: Sciences for Mechanics of Material and Structures
  • Embedded Networks and Connected objects – Security of information systems and networks

Advanced Masters’s Degree

INSA Toulouse delivers three Mastères Spécialisés, also called post master's degree for students already holding a master's degree. These masters are taught in English in the following subjects:
  • Advanced Master in Safety Engineering & Management
  • Advanced Master Business Engineering and International Affairs
  • Advanced Master in Innovative and Secure IoT systems

Masters of Science and Technology

  • At INSA Toulouse, four master's degrees are especially designed for international students:
  • Electronic systems for embedded communications and applications
  • Fluids Engineering for Industrial Processes
  • Water Engineering and Water Management
  • Industrial & Safety Engineering

Doctoral studies

Doctoral studies are managed together with other universities and engineering schools of Toulouse. PhD candidates can study in one of the following "écoles doctorales":
  • Aeronautics and Astronautics
  • Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering
  • Mathematics, Informatics and Telecommunications
  • Mechanics, Energetics, Civil Engineering and Processes
  • Materials Sciences
  • Ecology, Agronomy, Bioengineering and Veterinary Sciences
  • Systems engineering

International

During their study, each student must spend a minimum of 12 weeks abroad, either as part of a semester in a partner university or during an internship, but some stay longer or spend considerably more time in a foreign country.
In Europe, exchanges take place in the framework of the Erasmus programme, with partnerships in UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Scandinavian countries, in Eastern countries and so on
INSA Toulouse also offers double-degrees with 20 foreign institutions, including: Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires, Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Seoul National University, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, etc.
In addition to receiving short-term exchange students, INSA Toulouse participates in several exchange programmes with universities around the world:
  • ERASMUS - Over 130 partnership agreements with universities in 21 European countries.
  • ECIU University - Since 2019, INSA has been a member of the European Alliance University, a research and training partnership with 12 European partner institutions.
  • FITEC - Cooperative training and internships with many universities in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
  • Summer Schools - Cooperative summer programs with University of Texas at Austin and Mississippi State University in the U.S.
  • ASINSA - Targeted for Asian students interested in engineering in France.
  • IBERINSA - Targeted for Spanish speaking students interested in engineering in France.

Research

INSA Toulouse conducts research in the following subjects:
  • aeronautics, space, embedded systems
  • environment, health, biotechnologies, energy
  • nanosciences and nanotechnologies
  • towns, urban networks, information networks
  • biomathematics, bioinformatics
The research programmes are run with partner institutions; the 8 research laboratories are:Toulouse Biotechnology Institute

INSA culture

The campus of INSA Toulouse is very active and flourishes with cultural activities. L’Amicale des Elèves and its over 70 students clubs offer a wide range of activities that will suit all tastes: outdoors and indoors sports, arts, events, social actions, leisure and so on.`There is also a student hall and a party hall in where insaïens can organize events and the school's newspaper informs student about the campus life. The web radio, “Radio Insa Toulouse”, created in 2007, aims to facilitate communication between students and the staff. Every year, an annual race around the campus called “Les 100 tours de l’INSA”, gather every student association during two days in a festive atmosphere.
In September 2000 was created Les Enfoiros, a student association, which aims to help Les Restos du Coeur collecting money through various concerts and other events all along the year. Since then, Les Enfoiros have raised around €250,000 for this association.
Moreover, the AIIT, the INSA Toulouse students association, is very active as well and aims to:
  • Establish and maintain alumni contact
  • Advise students and graduates in their professional life
  • Develop cooperation between the Board and INSA's professors
  • Promote the school and its values
The Toulouse Ingénierie Multidisciplinaire is a state of the art student association whose objective is to conceive and build very low consumption prototype cars. Founded in 1995, the association takes part every year ever since in the Shell Eco Marathon, a European competition whose winner is the vehicle able to run the longest distance with one litre of gasoline equivalent. As a matter of facts, the TIM is one of the best teams in the world, breaking several world records throughout its history, such as: ICE Prototypes category, ethanol fuel: 3350 km/L in 2009, on the Rokingham track

Rankings and acceptance rates

Rankings :
  • 2nd place according to L'Express, among 5-year schools. In the French education system, high school graduates go to "Prepa" courses for 2 years, then compete for engineering schools where they spend 3 more years; whereas other schools like INSA include the "Prepa" as part of their 5-year cursus. Ranking differ between these 2 categories.
  • 2nd place for academic excellence according to L'Etudiant, among 5-year schools in France. 3rd place overall.
  • Shanghai Ranking by Subject 2021: despite its small size INSA Toulouse is in the world top 200 in mathematics, and in the world top 300 in biotechnologies.
The average acceptance rates of the national competition taken by students after High school exams are indicated below:
CursusNumber of spaces / applicants Acceptance 2019Acceptance 2020Acceptance 2021
5-years curriculum250 / 16,89911.0%10.1%11.7%
Double degree with Sciences Po24 / 1,076/2.4%9.6%
3-years curriculum 33 / over 5,246???

Notable alumni