Le Matin: The INSA Euro-Méditerranée, the fruit of a partnership between the INSA group (National Institute of Applied Sciences) of France and the Euro-Mediterranean University of Fez (UEMF), will open its doors on 1 September 2015. How are the registrations going currently?

Jean-Louis Billoet: We opened registration on 20 January on the site www.admission.groupe-insa.fr. Registration for the entrance exam will end on 20 March. We are receiving many requests, whether locally or internationally. Currently, we have exceeded the first 200 registered. I would like to remind you that we are targeting excellent students and places are very limited. We target people who are in the top 10% of the class, but we also judge based on the file and we also conduct in-depth interviews. As an example, we received 14,000 registration requests last year for 2,000 places for the INSAs in France. Eventually, we aim to welcome 400 students annually by 2025. The UEMF, for its part, should welcome 6,000 students between 2022 and 2024.

What does the training consist of?

The offer, which should last 5 years, is structured around 3 main branches. The first impacts all fields of mechanics and energy. A second field concerns everything related to electrical engineering, electronics, and embedded systems. Finally, the third branch relates to information and communication technologies and everything related to digital models. In terms of priority industrial sectors, we are targeting aeronautics, automotive, mechanics, energy, information technologies, and everything related to services using digital technology. I would like to specify that this is a training that will enjoy recognition from Morocco, from the CTI (Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur) in France, as well as European recognition soon.

What is the cost of the training?

Do you offer scholarships?

The cost of the training represents 70,000 DH per year; however, the INSA group offers a scholarship of 15,000 DH to students from the Union for the Mediterranean to lower the fees to 55,000 DH, all fees included (insurance, library access fee, registration fees...). In addition to this, the Euro-Mediterranean University of Fez offers two types of scholarships. The first is aimed at the best students from modest backgrounds and can go up to total exemption from tuition fees. The second is aimed at the most brilliant students, regardless of their family situation. Finally, all doctoral students do not pay. It is the university that gives them 5,000 DH per month.

What will be the added value of the INSA in Fez compared to the 6 institutes in France?

The INSA Euro-Méditerranée engineer has a higher added value than that of the other INSAs in France, since we have set the bar higher. In France, there is only one compulsory foreign language and sometimes two; international mobility is only 3 or 6 months, whereas in Morocco it is 18 months. The duration in a company in France is 8 to 12 months, while it is 18 months in Morocco. We did not export an existing project, but an innovative product that does not exist in the entire Euro-Mediterranean space. Our objective is to offer excellent training to true Moroccan engineers who will meet the great societal and cultural challenges and who will ensure technological renewal and the conquest of markets, particularly in Africa and the Middle East. This with a multicultural and multilingual touch.