1945
1945 was the year that saw the decree that first created the Ecole Nationale des Travaux Aéronautiques (ENTA). This text was then ratified by Charles of Gaulle, President of the Provisional Government of the Republic and by Rene Pleven, Minister for Finance. There were 25 students in the first intake of whom 24 were to go on to join the Ingénieurs Militaires des Travaux de l'Air (IMTA) air force engineering group.
1957
In 1957, the School changed names for the first time to become Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs des Constructions Aéronautiques (ENICA). The length of study switched to three years and the School turned resolutely towards a new civil vocation with a much higher intake of students with a civil aviation orientation.
1961
In 1961, ENICA was transferred to Toulouse under the authority of its then director Emile Blouin. At that time it took on a whole new dimension and forged its basic identity. In 1969, the School was brought into the competitive entrance schemes for the Ecoles Nationales Supérieures d’Ingénieurs (ENSI). It thus boosted the level of recruitment drawing it into the sphere of the very top French "Grandes Ecoles". This level of excellence was rewarded in 1979 when the aeronautics medal was conferred on it by General (Engineering) George Bousquet: ENICA then became ENSICA, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Constructions Aéronautiques.
The 1980s
The 1980s were marked by substantial diversification of the training on offer, with the new master’s degree and a postgraduate degree (DEA) in automated systems and mechanics, specialisation in aeronautical maintenance and helicopter techniques. ENSICA, now raised to the highest level in ENSI competitive entrance exams, increasingly boosted the share of research in training. It also internationalised its training courses by setting up exchange programmes with British, American and German institutes and universities. Having become a public body in 1994, ENSICA now became in a position to sign agreements and conventions with other organisations in its own name and receive research contracts.
1 October 2007
On October 1 2007, ENSICA and SUPAERO merged to form a Public Scientific, Cultural and Professional Institution: the "Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace". The ENSICA Master of Science degree retained its specific teaching and professional approach as also its enrolment procedure (Polytechnique competitive entrance exams).