École Supérieure Polytechnique

The École Supérieure Polytechnique is Mauritania's national engineering school, based in the Sebkha district of Nouakchott. It belongs to the Groupe Polytechnique, which is jointly supervised by the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Higher Education. It trains engineers in six departments, from civil and electrical engineering to mining and data science.

Good to know

• Originally set up by a joint ministerial order of 1 August 2011 as the École militaire polytechnique.
• From the 2016-2017 academic year, Mauritania's three existing engineering schools were merged into the ESP.
• Its attached preparatory institute IPGEI (MPSI/MP classes, started 2015, about 210 students) prepares Bac C holders for engineering entrance exams in Mauritania, France, Morocco and Tunisia; it reported a 100% success rate at the French Mines-Ponts common exam in 2020.
• Six engineering departments: GC-HE, GE, GM, IRT, MPG and SID.

Faculties and schools

• Département Génie Civil, Hydraulique et Environnement (GC-HE)
• Département Génie Électrique (GE)
• Département Génie Mécanique (GM)
• Département Informatique, Réseaux et Télécommunications (IRT)
• Département Mines, Pétrole et Gaz (MPG)
• Département Statistique et Ingénierie de Données (SID)

What you can study

• Engineering
• Computer Science
• Mining
• Energy
• Statistics

Degrees awarded

• Engineering degree

Admission

Entry to the engineering cycle is through the Concours National d'Ingénieurs de Mauritanie (CNIM): track 1 for students from the IPGEI or foreign preparatory classes, track 2 (file review plus interview) for students in or holding a Licence/Master. IPGEI itself admits Bac C holders under 21 who are oriented there by the higher-education ministry.

Sources

1. ESP – official website (about/departments content)
2. Cridem/AMI – L'École Supérieure Polytechnique et son rôle… (10 Aug 2016)
3. Cridem – IPGEI de Nouakchott : point de départ d'une rénovation majeure… (28 Jul 2020)
4. IPGEI – Présentation
5. IPGEI – home (news: Mines-Ponts 2020 results)
6. IPGEI – Conditions d'admission
7. IPGEI – Concours national (CNIM)
8. MESRS – Écoles publiques (archived 25 Feb 2026)
9. Logo: esp.mr

Something out of date? Report a correction