Adaptation of the Higher Education in Engineering to the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

The 21st century will be the era of the fourth industrial revolution with the progressive introduction of the digital society, with smart/connected objects, smart factories driven by robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence. Manufacturing should be performed by the industry entitled 4.0. These are advanced technologies resulting from steady development of information technology associated with new objects and systems that can fulfil manufacturing tasks. The industry 4.0 concept relies largely on the ability to design and manufacture smart and connected devices that are based on microelectronics technology. This evolution requires highly-skilled technicians, engineers and PhDs well prepared for research, development and manufacturing. Their training, which combines knowledge and the associated compulsory know-how, is becoming the main challenge for the academic world. The curricula must therefore contain the basic knowledge and associated know-how training in all the specialties in the field. The software and hardware used in microelectronics and its applications are becoming so complex and expensive that the most realistic solution for practical training is to share facilities and human resources. This approach has been adopted by the French microelectronics education network, which includes twelve joint university centres and 2 industrial unions. It makes it possible to minimize training costs and to train future graduates on up-to-date tools similar to those used in companies. Thus, this paper deals with the strategy adopted by the French network in order to meet the needs of the future industry 4.0.