From 15 to 17 September 2026, a Centrale Lyon delegation led by its Director, Pascal Ray, visited Darmstadt. Welcomed by Tanja Brühl, President of TU Darmstadt, the delegation discussed current cooperation and the next steps for the partnership, in particular opening it up to new disciplines. An alumni evening was held on 17 September.
Founded in 1877, TU Darmstadt is one of Germany's leading technical universities and a member of the TU9 alliance1. It is also Centrale Lyon's first international academic partner. The two institutions signed their first cooperation agreement in November 19682. Since then, student exchanges have led to a double degree in General Engineering, followed by a joint Aerospace Engineering Master's programme. Cooperation has also extended to research, particularly in sustainable mobility.
Two years ahead of the partnership's 60th anniversary, the two institutions are now looking to develop new projects.
From student exchanges to a double degree
The 1968 agreement was signed at the student gala, in the presence of the German Ambassador. The first exchanges of third-year students began at that time and have continued ever since2.
In 1989, cooperation took a further step with the signing of a double degree agreement. Peter Popp and Alain Dani, who graduated from Centrale Lyon in 1992, were its first recipients2. It was also the first double degree in TU Darmstadt's history3. Today, Centrale Lyon sends an average of six students a year to Darmstadt and welcomes as many in return, either on the double degree or on academic exchange.
This progression, from academic exchange to joint programmes, continues with the Aerospace Engineering Master's, launched in 2022-2023. Students spend one year at each institution and are awarded both degrees4. Ten Centrale Lyon students have gone to Darmstadt through this programme, and eleven TU Darmstadt students have been welcomed at Centrale Lyon.
Cooperation extends to research
The partnership is not limited to education. Since 2016, joint research seminars have brought together researchers from both institutions almost every year, alternating between Lyon and Darmstadt. A jointly supervised PhD has also been completed.
This cooperation has taken shape in particular around sustainable mobility. Established in 2023, TU Darmstadt's International Joint Research Lab on sustainable road and air mobility involves Centrale Lyon in its work, alongside Fraunhofer LBF5. It is coordinated by Stephan Rinderknecht, Professor at TU Darmstadt's Institute for Mechatronic Systems in Mechanical Engineering6, who works with Mohamed Ichchou, Professor at Centrale Lyon's Laboratory of Tribology and System Dynamics (LTDS)7.
Opening the partnership to other disciplines
Until now, the partnership has developed mainly in mechanical engineering.
"We want to build a shared future and move beyond our cooperation in mechanical engineering by opening this partnership up to other disciplines."
Pascal Ray, Director of Centrale Lyon
Centrale Lyon prepared several proposals for the visit. In education, three of its international Master's programmes could involve TU Darmstadt: Nanoscale Engineering, Biomimicry and Surface Engineering, and Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate Science. Centrale Lyon is also proposing joint projects to TU Darmstadt at European level, for example in educational design around WEEX (Week of Engineering EXperience), its immersive week on managing large-scale engineering projects, or the creation of a student-run network for environmental monitoring of university campuses. Closer ties are also being considered between teams taking part in the Formula Student competition, in which Centrale Lyon's team has competed since 2014.
Finally, Pascal Ray intends to draw on the networks to which both institutions belong, the Franco-German University and T.I.M.E.8, to develop further European projects, such as an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in Aerospace Engineering.
A new meeting has already been set. Pascal Ray has invited Tanja Brühl and a TU Darmstadt delegation to Centrale Lyon in 2028 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the partnership, ten years after the 50th anniversary was marked in Darmstadt9. It will be an opportunity for both institutions to look back on six decades of cooperation and ahead to the next steps.
