National Higher Maritime School

The École Nationale Supérieure Maritime (ENSM) trains merchant marine deck and engine officers. It issues an engineering title to versatile officers who obtain the diploma of higher studies in the merchant navy (DESMM) and to students who follow courses in maritime engineering: eco-management of the ship (EGN) and deployment and maintenance of systems offshore (DMO).

Heir to the Colbert hydrography schools and the national merchant marine schools, the ENSM is a public school placed under the supervision of the minister in charge of the sea.

In Le Havre, the ENSM welcomes around 350 students. On the Quai Frissard site inaugurated in 2015, the School provides three-year international bridge watch officer training (OCQPI) and the last two years of flight engineer training.

Its educational equipment, including its Ship-in-School, unique in France, allows it to prepare students at the end of their course for the highest positions on board commercial ships: captain and chief engineer.

For high school students, selections for training courses offered by the ENSM are accessible on Parcoursup.

Level of studies

• Professional license
• Licence
• Master

Number of training courses offered

• 2 post-baccalaureate training courses
• 4 diplomas awarded : OCQPI/Captain 3000, DESMM, Engineer title (CTI)

Number of students

• Around 450 students

On-site catering

• Yes

Word from the director of the establishment

“Hydro in Le Havre is important. From the top of the Quai Frissard building, financed by the communities and the State in 2015, nearly five centuries of history gaze upon us. The ENSM is not the Pyramids, but the old school of hydrography is almost contemporary with the city of Le Havre.

Operating across four sites and from its headquarters in Le Havre, the ENSM, a public establishment of the State, aims to be the exclusive national operator in terms of initial training for merchant navy officers. It has been able to diversify over time by integrating new career paths, such as engineers in Maritime Engineering, by allowing women and men to discover new subjects in keeping with their times (energy, digital, managerial transitions). It has also been able to move forward by cultivating, despite the cyclical nature of the merchant marine, a design so particular that it merges with the good health of the maritime and port economy. Today, it delivers the multi-purpose officer directional cycle and the single-purpose bridge officer cycle on its Le Havre site.

Driven by an assumed territorial strategy, the ENSM, and in particular its Le Havre site, wishes to be able to concentrate cultural, artistic or even sporting events relating to the maritime giving to its flagship a new vocation of influence in the heart of the Le Havre university center in the city-port interface. »
François Lambert, Director General of ENSM