Company
Polytech Mons and Companies
The FPMs (or “Polytech Mons”) involves external professionals in the design and teaching of its courses. These professionals also advise students on personal career plans and supervise them in the development of their professional skills.
In order to design training profiles consistent with the needs of society, the FPMs has a Strategic Advisory Board, on which there are an equal number of Faculty representatives and members from the corporate and industrial world. The Faculty’s Strategic Advisory Board advises the Faculty on its strategic management and on how to improve its courses based on recommendations made by the Advisory Committee of each degree programme. The structure and mission of the Advisory Committees are similar to those of the Strategic Advisory Board, but relate more specifically to a particular course option.
During their studies, FPMs students are in regular contact with companies and are greatly encouraged to develop their entrepreneurial spirit. The Faculty relies on an extensive network of industrial contacts built by its researchers and teaching staff, as well as its partnerships with incubators specialised in engineering professions, and the very close links it has with AIMs Polytech Mons Alumni (FPMs Association of Engineers).
The biggest engineering school network in the country, AIMs Polytech Mons Alumni, and more particularly its Entrepreneur Club, started the Engineer Companions , a ‘matchmaking’ scheme for members of the AIMs Polytech Mons Alumni. Supported by the King Baudouin Foundation, this initiative aims to conduct professional exchanges between students from the FPMs and active engineers. Student-companions experience what it is like to work for a company, making them aware of the demands and challenges of professional life, as well as allowing them to learn more about different engineering trades, which, in turn, assists them in shaping their career plans.
The intervention of professionals in the teaching activities carried out at the FPMs, securing concrete professional projects carried out by first cycle (Bachelor) students, and completing dissertations in collaboration with a company or a research centre, help to expose FPMs students to the realities of the corporate world throughout their training.
PThe FPMs has a policy of encouraging its students to develop their entrepreneurial skills through actions designed by, and carried out with, many partners. The creation of the student company Yep’Tech Mons in 2015, has allowed student entrepreneurs of the FPMs to carry out consultancy work, as well as research and studies related to engineering professions in both the private and public sectors. The Star-Tech programme allows second year students to develop their own innovative products and companies. In 2012, Wallonia Space Logistics (WSL) launched the Star-Tech programme in collaboration with AIMs Polytech Mons Alumni and the FPMs, the objective of which was to help students develop a business idea.
Transversal skills are developed during a professional work placement, which is carried out between the first and the second year of the Master’s course. This placement is mandatory, lasts a minimum of 8 weeks, and is a great opportunity to immerse future engineers in a professional environment. It also gives them the chance to help resolve any concrete problems that the company may be facing. By offering work placements, companies receive specific reinforcement for their projects and contribute to the training of future engineers.
The Journées des Entreprises careers days) offer those who are about to graduate the opportunity to meet potential future employers, for a job or work placement. This two-day event for Master’s students is organised every February by the FPMs, AIMs Polytech Mons Alumni and the FPMs Students’ Federation. At this event, companies do presentations in the morning, and students are able to meet with them in the afternoon. Supporting FPMs students in their professional integration can then continue throughout their careers through the services offered by the Careers Unit of the AIMs Polytech Mons Alumni.