The Collège des Ingénieurs (French pronunciation: [kɔlɛʒ dez‿ɛ̃ʒenjœʁ], CDI) is an independent international educational institution founded in Paris, France in 1986 and known for its postgraduate management training (MBA, Master of Business Administration).

Admission to the Collège is based on a rigorous selection process that assesses academic performance and, in particular, the student's aptitude and potential for a management career.

The CDI has three locations in Europe (Paris, Munich, Turin) and each year selects around 150 young graduates (engineers, natural scientists) from more than 1,000 applications who have first successfully completed a master's degree or doctorate at a university.

Historically closely linked to the world of industry,[1][2] its graduates (called "Fellows") come from the major European universities and Grandes Ecoles.

In France, the CDI mainly accepts graduates from the leading Grandes Ecoles (École polytechnique, CentraleSupélec, Mines Paris, Ponts ParisTech, AgroParisTech, Télécom ParisTech, Espci, Ensta Paris) as well as from the Sorbonne Université, the research university Paris-Sciences-et-Lettres, the Université Paris-Saclay and the Écoles Normales Supérieures.

In Germany, its students come from the major state universities of excellence (TU9, RWTH Aachen, Technische Universität München,[3][4] Karlsruhe Institute of Technology[5]...).

Every year, the Collège des Ingénieurs graduates around 120-150 young engineers and scientists (STEM subjects) with a master's degree or higher (doctorate).

Doctoral students from the research universities in Munich (TU Munich and LMU), Heidelberg, ETH Zurich, but also Paris Sciences et Lettres, the University of Paris-Saclay, the Institut Polytechnique de Paris as well as Sant'Anna Pisa are among the graduates of the Science & Management Programme.

The Copernic Programme is a programme organised in France jointly with the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, which trains graduates from the best universities in Central and Eastern Europe and prepares them for a management career.

The programme trained over 1000 young graduates, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe, who were prepared in France for management careers in their home countries.

The focus was on modern management and economic theory (market economy) and institutional framework conditions (parliamentary democracy), combined with a practical assignment in an international company.

Other graduates come from European universities from Switzerland (ETH Zurich and EPF Lausanne), Universidad Politecnica de Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, Cambridge (UK), Delft, etc.

In addition to the historical intra-European cooperation (France, Germany, Italy), in which graduates work together in the joint seminar and training blocks, the institution promotes multicultural encounters.

Since 1986, the Collège des Ingénieurs, in association with the main players in European industry, has graduated more than 2800 MBAs (as of 2023)[17] and 1000 fellows of the Copernic programme, who are now working in around 100 countries.

The programme has helped train numerous business leaders and executives of global industrial groups, founders of technology companies, managers of innovation and heads of strategy consulting firms.

This programme was launched with the approval of French President François Mitterrand in cooperation with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and three educational institutions in France, the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), the École des Mines de Paris and the École des Ponts et Chaussées.

By 2010, the end of the Copernic programme, the Collège des Ingénieurs had trained more than 1000 graduates from Central-Eastern Europe for management careers in industry.

Knut Stannowski, himself a graduate of the Collège des Ingénieurs,[48] establishes a first programme base outside France in Stuttgart, Germany with the support of the cabinet of the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg.

In 2006, through Philippe Mahrer, the Collège des Ingénieurs in France was an active member of the Commission Hetzel, which is preparing the law on the responsibilities of universities in France (Loi relative aux libertés et responsabilités des universités, LRU law) to reform the French higher education system.

[12] It enables doctoral students to complete the MBA of the Collège des Ingénieurs parallel to their scientific dissertation at a university.

In 2015, the Brain and Spine Institute (ICM: l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière) in Paris and the Collège des Ingénieurs initiated a summer university dedicated to the ideation of entrepreneurial solutions in the field of neuroscience.