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The values that “make” Icam

Since its creation in 1898, Icam has grown, in France and around the world, remaining deeply rooted in its values: audacity, trust, freedom, responsibility, solidarity and collective success.

Its essential mission is to train free, conscious, committed and actor engineers in their lives. All courses at the Icam are designed to develop these qualities, which are the common denominator of all students and alumni.

 

Opening up to others and the world

To succeed in this mission, Icam relies, for example, on the Decision Making Approach (DMA), a legacy of the School’s Jesuit foundations: it invites students, through regular times of rereading, to explore and experience what “makes sense” to them and thus guides all their choices, in an informed way.

Students are also invited to go out of their comfort zones, through social missions, personal projects and international study opportunities, which open them to other cultures and realities, sharpening their vision of the world and its realities.

Life in residence Icam is also an integral part of the educational experience: students learn the values of exchange, sharing, respect, co-responsibility and openness to others.

Social diversity is encouraged by scholarships and honorary loans and thus opens up campuses to as diverse an audience as possible. Engineering students also interact with students in production schools, some for school support, others for technical co-working, with the idea of real reciprocity.

 

Audace and Development

Icam is indeed guided by audacity in each of its projects.

The audacity to develop in a singular way, by opening campuses primarily in countries facing major challenges of demographic and economic development (Africa, India, Brazil…), in order to train young engineers in and for their country.

The audacity to fully integrate educational innovations PBL (problem based learning), reverse classes, etc. – which build on infrastructures such as the digital campus, making it easier to share courses and use all business software with BYOD (bring bring) technology your own device), or the “Fab Lab”, real places of innovation and creation.

The audacity, finally, to open up to different candidates by creating the “Parcours Ouvert”, in 2018, accessible to students from all countries entering university and oriented towards engineering. Entirely designed around innovative pedagogies that foster creativity, it opens up new perspectives for hundreds of young people and offers a different vision of the engineering profession: more 

 

The 4 Icam pillars

1. Industry
Founded by industrialists to address the needs of growing industry at the end of the 19th century, Icam started with evening courses proposed as vocational training, before progressing to offer full-time engineering programs.

True to its values, Icam reflects the deep industrial and economic linkages in the programs it offers.  All Icam engineers spend at least 26 weeks in several companies in home country or abroad throughout their five years in Icam. The scientific master thesis is framed by applied research, addressing real industrial research & innovation topics. This deep exposure to industry and practice is made possible via industry partnerships.  Icam also offers engineering formation for part-time students. Icam pioneer in France seized the opportunity to develop the apprenticeship training cursus as an excellence path to prepare much appreciated engineers.

Furthermore, each Icam campus in France also has “Écoles de production”. Through this professional program which delivers services to industry customers, socially disadvantaged youth are re-inserted into the workforce. Students learn to adopt the rigor of a professional life while learning and using manufacturing equipments of our Fablabs.

Lastly, the recently created “Parcours ouvert” program follows the same rule of intense interconnection with “real life” industry, economy and social realities.

2. Ignatian pedagogy

In 1898, the Icam industrialist founders together with the Society of Jesus created the engineering program using the Jesuit educational principles as a foundation: learning from experience in a social and interactive way, openness and commitment to one’s social surroundings, personal reflection, positive and dynamic projection in a personal project, global engagement in a unity of hand, heart, mind and soul, seeking of the greatest human and social growth. 

Today Icam is taking part in the global priorities of the Society of Jesus  formulated in the 4 Apostolic preferences: 

  • Journeying with youth for a “hope-filled” future
  • Developing spiritual depth 
  • Caring for our common home
  • Walking with the excluded

Icam is co-founder of IAJES – International association of Jesuit Engineering schools. This network brings together 50 engineering schools from all over the world and offers many opportunities for exchange and collaboration.

iajes.org

3. Internationalization

International exposure is also at the heart of Icam’s programs, ensuring the training of engineers who are open to and exposed to the global community and issues. The minimum international requirement for an Icam degree is one semester abroad. The average length of study abroad is more than 6 months.

Icam’s international strategy became a reality when it answered calls from universities wishing to diversify or expand their engineering curriculum. It is through these real needs that Icam’s other international campuses came to life: UCAC-Icam (Douala, Cameroon), LICET (Loyola Icam College of Engineering and technologies in Chennai, India), UNICAP-Icam (Recife, Brazil) and ULC-Icam (Kinshasa, DRCongo). This expansion opens for Icam a living and fruitful interculturality.

This international dimension led Icam to the creation of Parcours Ouvert, a 6-year intercultural and multi-site program, in 2018. Along with Brazil, Cameroon, and France, in the near future, other countries, will offer this same and unique  program based on innovative teaching approaches and methodology.

4. Social diversity
Welcoming audiences from all walks of life is one of Icam’s core values.

On each Icam site: one production school 

With its constantly developing production schools, Icam enables young people who have dropped out of school to continue to succeed and have the desire to learn. Each site in France hosts a production school. This means that 100 young people a year return to a social and professional training program.

Financial support for low income families

Honour loans, which are also on the rise, open up engineering courses to all deserving cases. 

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