The école nationale supérieure des mines de Saint-Étienne (ENSMSE) is one of the French generalist engineering schools Grandes Ecoles. The école nationale supérieure des mines of Saint Etienne is one of the French "Grandes Ecoles" dedicated to training highly qualified engineers and to carrying out research to meet the needs of industry. Its mission is to support the development of its students and of companies through a range of courses and fields of research, from the initial training of generalist engineers ingénieurs civils des mines, to PhD teaching; from material sciences to micro-electronics via process engineering, the environment, civil engineering, finance, computer science and health engineering. The school's expertise is based on teaching that is both academic and directly related to the real world of the companies, and is supported by innovative pedagogy. The school's pioneering spirit is seen in its exploration of new scientific themes or international partnerships which make it a unique player among the top 10 French engineering schools. The school was founded in 1816 by a decision of Louis XVIII (2nd of August 1816).