École des arts industriels et des mines founded by Louis Pasteur
History
École des arts industriels et des mines de Lille was founded in 1854, the same year when Louis Pasteur became the dean of Faculté des sciences de Lille and pioneered applied research with industry cooperations, with support of scientists such as Frédéric Kuhlmann.
Between 1854 and 1871, students attending the two-year/three-year curriculum grew to 90 per annum. Baccalaureate was a prerequisite to admission to the engineering school. The school delivered engineering degrees. The curriculum during the first two years of engineering education included manufacturing and textile industry, engine design, chemistry and metallurgy, mines, as required by entrepreneurs in Northern France. The third year of the curriculum provided optional lectures in engines, mine exploitation, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering.
"The Imperial School of Manufactures and Mines at Lille" (PDF). The Engineer: 565. 21 June 1867. As illustrating the system of education pursued on the Continent (...) we now supplement it with the following particulars of the School of Manufactures and Mines of Lille. This school is open to young men who, having followed the classes of the lycée, colleges, &c., are wishful to acquire instruction specially preparatory to one of the following industries 1, Engineering; 2, Spinning and Weaving; 3, Industrial and Agricural chemistry; 4, Mining. Situated in the neighbourhood of the northern coal fields, and placed in the centre of the greatest manufacturing district in France, and provided with workshops where is executed work destined for the local trade, this school offers to the pupils studies in which practice is happily combined with theory. (...) At certain periods, and always when the nature of the studies require it, the pupils, under the guidance of their professors, visit engineering and metal works, mills, coal pits, and railway plant in the neighbourhood. The classes are given to engineers and professors who have acquired a practical knowledge of the different industries carried on in the north. The term of industrial studies is two years, followed by an extra year for the pupils intended for the mines, and for young men who wish to follow the profession of civil engineer. The pupils, on leaving, receive a diploma of capacity for one of the four specialities taught in the school. Besides this examination, pupils have to make a report detailing and discussing all that is necessary for a coal pit which they have visited one day a week during the year. A council of professors meets once a month to discuss the management of the school. A commission named by the Minister of Instruction superintends the general arrangements. This commission is composed entirely of manufacturers and engineers.
After the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871, the engineering school was renamed Institut industriel du Nord de la France (IDN). Its heir is École Centrale de Lille.