Abstract:

French preparatory school plays an important role in the French engineering system. Industrial Science (SI) is one of the representative courses created during the French engineering education reform over the past twenty years. French preparatory system is briefly summarized, which helps us better understand the background of the birth of the Industrial Science course. The objective, the content and the organization of SI are presented in detail, particularly the important reform over these years, which shows the relationship between the education reform and the industrial development. Based on the experiences obtained in Sino-French Engineer School in Beihang University, the implementation, adaptation and future development of SI course in China are discussed, giving a reference to the reform of Chinese higher education system.

Key words: French preparatory school, engineering education, industrial science, course organization, chinese higher education, education reform