MINES ParisTech – officially École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris – is one of the most prominent engineering schools in France and is continually rated among the top universities in France.
Founded in 1783, the university coincided with the discovery than mining was a high-technology industry. Naturally, ever since, MINES ParisTech has followed the development of the industry and teaches the next generation.
ParisTech includes 12 prestigious institutes of education and research composed of several engineering and business schools, and MINES ParisTech is one of the founding members of the cluster.
The university focuses its research on five major fields, which include: earth sciences and environment, energy and process engineering, mechanical and materials engineering, mathematics and systems, and economics, management and society.
Located in central Paris’s Latin Quarter – a district near the river Seine – its location provides a hub of activity for students with an an array of restaurants, cinemas, museums and evolving exhibitions.
The university library possesses one of the largest scientific and technical collections across the whole of France, and collections date back to the sixteenth century with books, periodicals, manuscripts and maps. Material is particularly rich relating to mining, the metal industry, mineralogy and chemistry.
The university has a number of international partner schools from America to Europe which has enabled the university to form strong bonds to other successful institutions across the world.
A large number of French Nobel Prize winners went to MINES ParisTech, in particular Georges Charpak and Maurice Allais.
All students have (free) access to the Mineralogy Museum, which is located in the former Hôtel de Vendôme. The museum is considered one of the top collections in the world and serves as a constant reference for those working and studying within mineralogy.
Notable alumni include Maurice Allais, a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 1988, Louis Paul Cailletet (1832–1913), a physicist and inventor, and Jean-Martin Folz, former CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën.
Until 2017 Mines ParisTech was ranked as a separate institution in the THE World University Rankings. Since the 2018 World University Rankings, Mines ParisTech has been ranked as part of Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University Paris.