Mines Paris – PSL


The Mines Paris – PSL, officially École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, also known as École des mines de Paris, is a French grande école and a constituent college of PSL University. It was originally established in 1783 by King Louis XVI.
Mines Paris is distinguished for the outstanding performance of its research centers and the quality of its international partnerships with other prestigious universities in the world, which include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Novosibirsk State University, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and Tokyo Tech.
Mines Paris also publishes a world university ranking based on the number of alumni holding the post of CEO in one of the 500 largest companies in the world: the Mines ParisTech: Professional Ranking of World Universities. The school is a member of the ParisTech alliance.

History

A school of mining had been proposed by Henri Bertin in 1765. Still, it was the chemist Balthazar-Georges Sage who, though not a chemist of repute, was a royalist who was able to influence Jacques Necker on the value of mineralogy in training students in mining. This was achieved through the use of his own large collections of minerals, and a chair in mineralogy was established on July 11, 1778. The school of mines was begun at the mint, the Hôtel de la Monnaie, Paris. The school was officially opened by decree of the French King's Council on March 19, 1783.
The school disappeared at the beginning of the French Revolution but was re-established by decree of the Committee of Public Safety in 1794, the 13th Messidor Year II. It moved to Savoie, after a decree of the consuls the 23rd Pluviôse Year X.
After the Bourbon Restoration in 1814, the school moved to the Hôtel de Vendôme. From the 1960s onwards, it created research laboratories in Fontainebleau, Évry, and Sophia Antipolis.

Education

École des mines de Paris is a member of the Groupe des écoles des mines, a group of 8 Institut Mines-Telecom engineering schools that are Grandes Écoles, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of the French public university system. Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and C9 League in China, Grandes Écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process. Alums go on to occupy elite positions within government, administration, and corporate firms in France.
The initial aim of the École des mines de Paris, namely to train high-level mining engineers, evolved with time to adapt to the technological and structural transformations undergone by society. Mines Paris - PSL has now become one of the most prestigious French engineering schools with a broad variety of subjects. Its students are trained to hold management positions, work in research and development departments, or serve as operations officers, among other roles. They receive a well-rounded education in a variety of subjects, ranging from the most technical to economics, social sciences or even art, to be able to tackle the management or engineering-related issues they are to face. Exchange programs are possible during the third semester with prestigious universities around the world, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Tokyo Tech, Seoul National University...
Although the IMT engineering schools are more expensive than public universities in France, Grandes Écoles typically have much smaller class sizes and student bodies, and many of their programs are taught in English. International internships, study abroad opportunities, and close ties with government and the corporate world are a hallmark of the Grandes Écoles. Many of the top-ranked schools in Europe are members of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles , as are the IMT engineering schools. Degrees from the IMT are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles and awarded by the Ministry of National Education .
Mines Paris – PSL provides different educational paths:
For students having studied in the Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Ecoles, admission to Civil Engineer of Mines is decided through a nationwide competitive examination. Every year, ten additional applications are accepted from students around the world based on their academic achievements.
Admission to the Corps of Mines is possible for French students at the end of their studies in École polytechnique, École normale supérieure, École des télécommunications de Paris and École des mines de Paris, or from the other grand technical corps of the French state. Admission in the third year is also open to one PhD graduate.

Rankings

National ranking
NameYearNational ranking
DAUR Rankings20242
L’Étudiant20243
L’Usine nouvelle20242
Le Figaro20242

International Rankings
NameYearWorld rankingNational ranking
CWUR2025191
QS Top Universities2024241
Shanghai Ranking2024332
Times Higher Education2025421

Student unions and organizations

A Student Union is elected every year after a one-week campaign. It is in charge of enhancing the contact between students and various sponsoring industries as well as organizing events for the students.
Various other organizations are part of students' lives: the Students' Sport Committee, the Junior Enterprise, the Arts' Office, Cahier Vert, CAV, Catholic community, fanfare band, entrepreneur club, humanitarian organizations, photography club, and sailing club, among others.

Alumni

Academics & Scientists
File:CorpsDesMines.png|thumb|from the left to the right and the top to the bottom: Jacques Attali, Henri Poincaré, Anne Lauvergeon, Maurice Allais, Patrick Kron and Albert Lebrun.
Business leaders
Entrepreneurs
  • Franck Le Ouay and Romain Nicolli, co-founders of Criteo
Politicians