SAS^® Teaching at ENST Bretagne

Driving job creation

ENST Bretagne was founded in 1977 as a public institution under the Ministry of Industry. It is now one of the foremost engineering schools in France, offering a wide range of training programs (including Engineers, Masters, Masters of Science, Research Masters, Theses and Ongoing Education) in fields related to information technology. With more than 150 permanent lecturers and researchers at its campuses in Brest and Rennes, ENST Bretagne provides top-class teaching supported by internationally renowned research work.

In 2002, ENST Bretagne created a Mastère Spécialisé, French post-graduate program, entitled "Information Technology Applied to Banking and Actuarial Business Intelligence" (Ms IADBA), with the specific objective of meeting the needs of the finance, banking and insurance sectors. The course offers six months of training, combining theory and hands-on practice, and ending with a work placement. The goal of this program is to train specialists in IT for finance, data mining and business intelligence, who can then put their skills to work for the benefit of the industry.

At this juncture, ENST Bretagne chose to become a SAS partner.

Challenges faced
New requirements have developed in the finance, banking and insurance sectors over the past few years, thanks to increased competition, the growing popularity of multi-channel engagement with customers, and the growing amount of information that must be processed for business-intelligence purposes.

Phillippe Lenca, Head of the "Information Technology Applied to Banking and Actuarial Business Intelligence" Mastère Spécialisé Program, ENST Bretagne

Philippe Lenca is a Lecturer and Researcher at ENST Bretagne, and decade-long member of EURIA (Institute of Actuaries of the University of Bretagne Occidentale), the association of schools that has partnered with the Grenoble Ecole de Management to create this Mastère Spécialisé program.

Lenca comments on the challenge it aims to solve: "The role of IT in actuarial work is increasing all the time. Moreover, the role of data management has changed dramatically, particularly in banking and insurance. With the analysis and mining of information from growing databases becoming increasingly critical, companies need people with specialist IT and mathematical skills."

With the creation of this Mastère Spécialisé program, ENST Bretagne is able to meet these new business requirements, rapidly.

A rewarding education
The SAS-ENST Bretagne partnership opened in 2001 with a series of information seminars; SAS tuition formally became part of the Mastère Spécialisé in September 2002. "Given its leadership position in the banking, insurance and finance sectors, we selected SAS pretty quickly," says Lenca.

ENST Bretagne Campus in Brest, France

The benefits of partnership
"SAS teaching gives students true professional recognition," states Sorin Moga, Head of SAS teaching at ENST Bretagne.

The students have become very aware of the contribution that SAS makes to their training and of its added value when they are looking for work placements or jobs.

"You're as likely to find our students in large corporations as in smaller, specialised companies," Lenca adds.

The students have no difficulty finding their first job after the conclusion of the program. Some, such as actuaries and IT specialists, are even headhunted for the finance sector before they've even finished the course, because they possess skills that are in great demand. Over the coming months, ENST Bretagne plans to respond to this trend by further strengthening the finance and IT aspects of its Mastère Spécialisé program, in order to fully meet the needs of companies in this sector.

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