Undergraduate education
Bachelor of Science in Earth Sciences
which offers students progressive specialization in general courses leading to master’s degrees or to professional courses in the third year for rapid entry into the workforce.
LST Manager: Cédric Bailly
L1BCST Co-Manager: Sophie Sépulcre
L2 Manager: Guillaume Delpech
L3 Manager: Cédric Bailly
Component(s) Faculty of Science, Paris-Saclay University
Presentation
The Bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences aims to provide students with a foundation of fundamental knowledge and skills in the field of Geosciences (tectonics, hydrogeology, sedimentology, energy and mineral resources, geochemistry, geomorphology, magmatic and sedimentary petrology). It allows students to continue their studies in a Master’s program in France or abroad, in any specialty in Geology. These fundamentals in Geosciences include basic scientific disciplines (mathematics, physics, and chemistry) as well as computer tools and language skills. The program emphasizes a naturalistic approach and experimental methods, which are basic skills in geosciences, combining high-level teaching through research and professional training in collaboration with companies, through the learning of numerous observation, analysis, and measurement techniques used in geosciences. The knowledge imparted to students will enable them to build their career plans, notably through five field internships and one internship in research or in a company. The Bachelor’s degree provides students with an insight into societal, environmental, and climate issues and gives them the fundamentals for a better integration into geoscience professions, particularly those related to energy transition and innovative land use planning.
The Bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences allows students to acquire a specialization in addition to a foundation of fundamental knowledge and skills through a choice of options from the second to third year. The options available allow students to specialize in relation to their Master’s studies, particularly in the specializations offered by the Master’s in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Environment at Paris Saclay. They also open students’ minds to professional or scientifically attractive disciplines. The choice of a laboratory or company internship at the end of the third year also allows students to broaden their scientific and professional horizons.
Research-based training is particularly emphasized in the Bachelor’s degree program through a variety of courses taught by faculty members from the Géosciences Paris Sud laboratory (GEOPS, UMR 8148), reflecting the diversity of the laboratory’s research. GEOPS has a wide range of research topics (paleoclimates, sedimentary basins, planetology, volcanology, petrology, hydrogeology, geochemistry, geophysics, etc.). Students are taught by specialists in the disciplines, ensuring high-quality content.
In addition, a large number of students choose to do their end-of-year internship in the Paris region’s geoscience laboratories, such as GEOPS, LSCE, IPGP, or the SOLEIL synchrotron. This internship is an opportunity to introduce students to the scientific process: asking a question, establishing a protocol, acquiring data, interpreting it, and presenting it in the form of a scientific report.
The teaching units during the program emphasize societal, environmental, and climate issues related to current research topics. These teaching units (both practical work and field internships) include numerous projects, which students carry out alone or in groups, to encourage them to work more independently and train them in the scientific thinking essential to research. In the third year, students will undertake a multidisciplinary field internship in geosciences, combining different techniques (sedimentology, hydrogeology, geophysics, petrology) and involving a high degree of teamwork, very similar to scientific projects.
There is a high level of interaction between students and teacher-researchers. The Bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences maintains close ties with the AGUPS (Association of Geologists of the University of Paris Sud), whose board is traditionally composed of third-year Bachelor’s students. The AGUPS organizes conferences to which teacher-researchers are invited to talk about their research work and academic careers.
Students are regularly invited to seminars and thesis defenses at the GEOPS laboratory, as well as to certain conferences organized on campus (e.g., the “Climate and Impacts” workshops organized every two years at Paris-Sud University). Participation in summer schools is strongly recommended to encourage students to discover specific scientific fields at Paris-Saclay University (e.g., SPACEOBS (Paris-Saclay) and Climate (IPSL)).
From an association perspective, AGUPS (Association des Géologues de l’Université Paris Sud) is very active at the undergraduate level. This association organizes conferences to which faculty members are invited to discuss their research and academic careers. It also organizes field trips (Iceland, Languedoc, Morvan), as well as specialized sessions (landscape drawing classes in particular). AGUPS is also involved in providing information to prospective students by participating each year in the University’s open house days and organizing presentations by researchers and industry professionals, some of whom are former Bachelor’s degree students. There are indirect international partnerships with foreign institutions through scientific collaborations between GEOPS laboratory faculty members, and outgoing mobility through ERASMUS is encouraged. Learning English is strongly encouraged through the reading of numerous English-language documents (PPT presentations, educational works, scientific articles, etc.) and the gradual transition to English-language courses whenever possible.
Students with a scientific high school diploma, regardless of the specialization chosen in their final year, or an equivalent foreign qualification, or a DUT or BTS in the field of geosciences.
Whether you are a student engaged in working life or with special responsibilities in university life, student life, or community life, a pregnant woman, a student with family responsibilities, a student enrolled in multiple programs, a student with a disability, an artist, or a high-level athlete, Paris-Saclay University will help you pursue your studies by implementing adapted teaching methods in accordance with Article 10 of the new national training framework. Contact your academic office, your director of studies, or your academic advisor. If your request is approved, you will be offered a specific educational contract. Study accommodations may also be offered as part of an individual educational contract and/or personalized support program.