# École nationale supérieure des mines de Saint-Étienne

École nationale supérieure des mines de Saint-Étienne (French pronunciation:), also called École des Mines de Saint-Étienne (literally meaning "Saint-Étienne School of Mines") or simply Mines Saint-Étienne and commonly abbreviated EMSE is a prestigious French graduate engineering school (grandes écoles) training engineers and carrying out industry-oriented research. Its function is to support the development of its students and of companies through a range of courses and fields of research, from the initial training of generalist engineers ingénieurs civils des mines, to PhD teaching; from material sciences to micro-electronics via process engineering, mechanics, the environment, civil engineering, finance, computer science and health engineering.

## History

The school was founded in 1816 by a decision of Louis XVIII (2 August 1816).

## Admission for French students

For French nationals, admission to Civil Engineer of Mines is decided after competitive examination at the end of preparatory classes, a highly selective system.

## Notable alumni

* Benoît Fourneyron, designed the first practical water turbine in 1827
* Henri Fayol, a French management theorist
* Jules Garnier
* Mahamadou Issoufou, elected Niger President in March 2011
* Anne-Marcelle Kahn, (née Schrameck) first woman to graduate from the school, in 1919.
* Tadeusz Nowicki

## The puRkwa Prize

The puRkwa Prize is an "international prize for the scientific literacy of the children of the planet" awarded annually by the école nationale supérieure des mines of Saint Etienne and the French Academy of Sciences. The prize is awarded to pioneers in the innovation of general science education in school curricula for children less than 16 years of age. It was launched in 2004 at the initiative of Robert Germinet, the director of the école nationale supérieure des mines of Saint Etienne, and comes with an €80,000 monetary award.
| Year | Recipient | Institution(s) | Nationality | Cited work |
| 2005 | Maricio Duque | University of the Andes | Colombia | Pequeños Científicos |
| 2005 | Michael Klentchy | El Centro School District | United States | Valle Imperial Project in Science |
| 2006 | Yu Wei | Southeast University | People's Republic of China | Zuo zhong xue |
| 2006 | Karen Worth | Education Development Center Wheelock College | United States | K-12 Science Curriculum Dissemination Center |
| 2007 | Jorge Allende | University of Santiago, Chile | Chile | Educación en Ciencias Basada en la Indagación |
| 2007 | Stevan Jokic | Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences | Serbia and Montenegro | Ruka u testu |
| 2008 | Guillermo Fernández de la Garza | National Autonomous University of Mexico United States – Mexico Foundation for Science | Mexico | Sistema de Enseñanza Vivencial e Indagatoria de la Ciencia |
| 2008 | Wynne Harlen | University of Bristol | United Kingdom | Research in science education |
| 2009 | Sally Goetz Shuler | National Science Resources Center | United States | Institutional award |
| 2009 | David Jasmin | La main à la pâte | France | Institutional award |

## Other schools of Mines in France

* École nationale supérieure des Mines d'Albi Carmaux (Mines Albi-Carmaux)
* École nationale supérieure des Mines d'Alès (Mines Alès)
* École nationale supérieure des Mines de Douai (Mines Douai)
* École nationale supérieure des Mines de Nancy
* École nationale supérieure des Mines de Nantes (Mines Nantes)
* École nationale supérieure des Mines de Paris (Mines ParisTech)

## Other schools of Mines in Africa

* École nationale supérieure des Mines de Rabat (Mines Rabat)

## Other schools of Mines in the USA

* Colorado School of Mines