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Re: Ingenieur des Mines and illustrations

From: Ian Thompson <ithompson~at~geog.gla.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 09:52:57 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

Norm asks if the Ecole des Mines was part of the Sorbonne. In fact the
system des Grandes Ecoles is quite separate from the university system, as
JP Boutin has pointed out. The Ecole des Mines was founded in 1783 and at
that time was specifically responsible for training for elite positions in
the mining industry. It still exists but its remit extends beyond mining to
most aspects of scientific and technological training. The distinguishing
feature of the Grandes Ecoles, apart from their dedication to a particular
field of expertise (administration, military, education, civil engineering
etc) is that they offer an alternative route to the universities and
historically have been linked to training an élite in a specific area of
national life. They are thus relatively small, as compared with
universities, but crucially are based on highly competitive entry exams for
which special preparatory classes are taken in high schools.Historically,
many of the Grandes Ecoles were concerned with scientific and technical
training and the graduates would thus have the generic title of "Ingenieur",
for which there is no exactly corresponding term in English. "Civil
Engineer" is not entirely accurate...this would imply a graduate of the
Ecole des Ponts et Chausées who took up a career in "génie civil" in the
public or private sector. Apart from the historic Grandes Ecoles, dating
back to the 18th C, some of which were mentioned byJP Boutin, the system has
now become somewhat banalised by the proliferation of "Ecoles" all over
France in a large variety of disciplines, their common factors being their
separation from the State university system, competitive entry, private or
semi-private financial basis and wide variation in their competitive
standing.
I tend to think that for purposes of translation of past usage of the term
"ingeneur des mines" then mining engineer would be appropriate although this
would imply a higher status than would necessarily be the case in English.
Alternatively simply the term "engineer" could be used with a brief
explanatory footnote.
Ian Thompson.
Received on Wed 04 Aug 2004 - 12:18:05 IDT

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