Universities and businesses hand-in-hand in the name of transition
Reading time: 5 min
Transformation in pursuit of environmental and energy transition is based in part on close collaboration between universities and businesses aiming to make the training available better match the professional demand. We examine an example in Metz, where the École nationale supérieure des Arts et Métiers has joined forces with VINCI Energies and ArcelorMittal Global R&D to create two new training pathways.
Under pressure to expedite their environmental and digital transition, industries are now facing significant recruitment difficulties. To attract, select and nurture talent requires a pool of candidates trained to meet employers’ needs and challenges. Unfortunately, the skills required for large-scale energy-efficiency, decarbonisation and digitalisation projects are sorely lacking.
While maintaining the link between the supply of training and demand for professionals is a statutory role of higher education establishments, it is also becoming a critical imperative for the sectors most feeling the pinch. Universities and businesses are therefore increasingly thinking about ways to cooperate to fill these talent pools, add credibility to their expertise, and enhance their academic rankings.
Materials and energies: the metal industry green cycle
In Metz, the Ecole nationale supérieure des Arts et Métiers (ENSAM), in association with VINCI Energies and ArcelorMittal Global R&D, has codesigned two new courses: “Materials and Energies: the metal industry green cycle”*, a pathway for expert engineers in the third year of the Programme Grande Ecole (PGE) ENSAM (Bac+5), which welcomed its first eight students in 2025; and the Bachelor of Materials and Energies (Bac+3 – higher technical), which opened in September 2026.
“The aim of these courses is to foster an increase in vocational skills”
“The university’s vocation has always been to support industrial revolutions,” says Stéphane Fontaine, Director of the Arts et Métiers Campus in Metz. “ENSAM was born of industrial mechanisation in the late 18th century. Over the years, it has supported every industrial revolution, including electrification, automation, smart factories, digitalisation and artificial intelligence. Today, we are entering the environmental transition on an equal footing, and this partnership with two industrial Titans sets the seal on our mission to offer businesses in the Grand Est region training that truly aligns with their needs.”
The course content has been created partly by ENSAM, to ensure rigorous academic standards are maintained, and partly by VINCI Energies and ArcelorMittal Global R&D, which contribute their business knowledge and skills.
Cobuilding
“This cobuilding is an essential element in the project,” says Patrick Benard, Regional Director, VINCI Energies. “VINCI Energies has been sponsoring ENSAM for eight years** at the national level . We also have a long history of business mentoring with the Metz Campus. But this is the first time we have been fully involved in a degree course. For us, this is about going beyond our involvement in student forums and being present at a much earlier stage, in order to identify the people who will help us transform our business activities.”
The university and its two partners also share the aim of making careers in industry an increasingly attractive prospect by emphasising the role of new technologies and awareness of sustainability issues. VINCI Energies has developed content in four teaching areas: auditing and environmental standards; introduction to data science; carbon capture and storage; and reclamation systems and energy saving.
48 graduates a year
“The aim of these courses is to coordinate an increase in vocational skills directly applicable to the industrial environment,” adds Thierry Delpech, Senior Business Unit Manager at Actemium Consulting 5.0, who works on this programme. “That’s why we wanted students to have intern, apprentice or professional trainee status. Through this association with ENSAM Metz, we are committing to take on 11 students in the first three years.”
The aim is to see 48 graduates from these two courses each year. A progress review will take place in three years.
*Source Arts et Métiers
**Source: Industrie Mag
In summary:
- VINCI Energies, ENSAM Metz and ArcelorMittal Global R&D are cobuilding two courses dedicated to the issues of decarbonisation, energy efficiency and industrial transformation.
- VINCI Energies is contributing directly to teaching content on key themes: energy performance, data science, carbon capture, and resource reclamation.
- The courses prioritise professional immersion through work-study placements, apprenticeships, and projects with industrial applications.
- The aim is to train up to 48 talented people a year in support of industry’s environmental and energy transition.
11/10/2026
