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Institut national des sciences appliquées Centre Val de Loire

Higher education centre in Bourges, France

INSA Centre Val de Loire (INSA CVL) is a French public institute that trains engineers and landscape architects, with campuses in Blois and Bourges and six research laboratories. It follows the INSA model of five-year courses with gradual specialisation, holds the EUR-ACE accreditation issued by the CTI, and its degrees are equivalent to master's level.

After two years in the Engineering Science and Technology (STPI) department, engineering students specialise in one of these departments:

  • Industrial Risk Control (MRI)
  • Information Technology and Cybersecurity (STI)
  • Industrial Systems Engineering (GSI)
  • Energy, Risks and the Environment (ERE), as an apprenticeship course

The School of Nature and Landscape Architecture (ENP) offers a five-year landscape architecture course. INSA CVL also has four master's programmes, two of whose second-year tracks are taught in English, and special first-year programmes in visual arts, music/dance/theatre and high-level sport. For international students, the Global INSA first year is taught 70% in English and 30% in French, with French as a foreign language classes, before students join the regular engineering course, taught only in French from the third semester. Applicants with a foreign secondary diploma apply through the INSA Group admissions website.

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Programmes

  • Engineering degree (5 years): years 1-2 in the STPI department (common core, then pre-specialisation; first year on the Blois campus), years 3-5 in a speciality department: Industrial Risk Control (MRI), Information Technology and Cybersecurity (STI), Industrial Systems Engineering (GSI) or Energy, Risks and the Environment (ERE, apprenticeship)
  • Landscape architecture (ENP): five-year course including 11 months of placements
  • First-year options: Global INSA (international section), Visual Arts, Music/Dance/Theatre, High-Level Sport

Graduate programmes

INSA CVL offers four master's programmes, some jointly with the universities of Orléans and Tours:

  • Applied Physics and Physics Engineering: second-year tracks in Electronics, Instrumentation and Ultrasound (Blois) and Automatic, Robotics and Computer Vision (Bourges), both taught in English
  • Risks and Environment (Chemistry, Pollution, Risks and Environment), only for INSA CVL students
  • Information Technology (Digital Nomading, Intelligence and Security)
  • Mechanics

First-year master's applications go through the Mon Master portal (Campus France for non-European students).

Admission

The five-year engineering course can be joined at several levels through the INSA Group's common admission process, based on the application file and possibly an interview:

  • 1st year: general baccalaureate or equivalent; applicants with a foreign diploma apply on admission.groupe-insa.fr (2026 intake: 19 January to 12 March 2026)
  • 2nd year: one year of higher education, including a first year of a non-French degree
  • 3rd year: DUT/BTS/L2/L3 or a foreign diploma (2026 intake: 19 January to 19 March 2026)
  • 4th year: scientific M1 or M2, on file and interview

Language requirements

The regular engineering course is taught in French. The Global INSA first year eases the transition for international students: 70% of science teaching is in English and 30% in French, with French as a foreign language (FLE) classes and an FLE summer school; from the third semester students follow the regular course taught only in French. The two second-year tracks of the Applied Physics master's are taught in English.

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