The Auvergne ITII is a regional partnership between the French metallurgy profession's representative body and higher education institutions, whose role is to train engineers .

·         the Union of Metallurgical Industries and Trades (UIMM)

·         the Auvergne region Centre for Industrial Apprenticeship Training (CFAI), which organises training through apprenticeship courses in the Clermont Academic Region

·         academic partner institutions, which organise the training

For the IFMA diploma in Industrial Engineering via apprenticeship, IFMA is responsible for the organisation of the courses, in collaboration with the Auvergne CFAI.

On 3rd May 2005, the French Institute for Advanced Mechanics received the accreditation to issue the " IFMA Engineering Diploma, Industrial Engineering specialty, in partnership with ITII Auvergne, via apprenticeship".

The diploma assessment process is the responsibility of IFMA, and the apprentice must therefore be enrolled in the Institute. He or she is thus benefits from the school's internal academic infrastructure.

Through the apprenticeship contract, which binds the student to the company for three years, the apprentice is an employee of the company, and receives a salary in conformance with the national apprenticeship regulations.

Selection is after 2 years' higher education in mechanical or production engineering. The admission process includes an interview, and written and oral tests.

Admission is limited to 12 apprentice engineers per group.

IFMA, the academic operator, first selects candidates according to their scientific level and their motivation:

-        Candidates must have a DUT or BTS diploma in mechanical or production engineering.

-        Candidates submit their application to IFMA, including a cover letter, grades transcripts and a report from their previous higher education establishment.

-        The admissions jury examines the applications and selects the best candidates for further tests and an interview.

-        These selected candidates take written and orals tests in English, and have an interview with a commission composed of an engineer, a teacher and a psychologist.

-        The admissions jury then establishes a list of successful candidates.

Double tutoring

Each student is mentored by an academic tutor as well as a company tutor.

A logbook guarantees traceability during the student engineer's programme, and gives the two tutors access to relevant information.

A permanent dialogue between the company tutor and the academic tutor ensures the coherence of the training, and optimises the alternating rhythm of the programme.