A campus of the École Gustave is opening in Marseille to offer free training for construction trades

The school’s third campus in France is opening in Marseille and will welcome its first students in November.

The École Gustave, founded by Marie Blaise three years ago in Paris, is inaugurating its third campus in France in the 10th arrondissement of Marseille. The only school of its kind in France, the École Gustave offers free training in building trades such as plumbing, electricity, and roofing to people who are switching careers, have no formal qualifications, or are no longer in the job market. The first class of plumbers-heating engineers will start in Marseille on 13 November 2023 with almost two dozen students selected for their commitment to the program and their carefully established career plans. Provence Promotion supported the opening of the school in Marseille by identifying financial resources, seeking out potential partnerships, and facilitating contacts with local stakeholders involved in social inclusion and social services.

When she founded her groundbreaking school in 2021, Marie Blaise chose to name it “École Gustave” as a tribute to the great French civil engineer Gustave Eiffel. With deep respect for the manual building trades, she launched this ambitious project to promote the construction sector and create job opportunities.

“These professions are highly fulfilling on a personal level and skilled workers are in great demand. We train hard-working, conscientious professionals. Whatever their background and regardless of whether they have a diploma, any jobseeker older than 18 can access our training courses free of charge and be paid thanks to a partnership with the Pôle Emploi employment agency,” explains Marie Blaise. She is dedicated to the social and inclusive values of her school and strives to combat the prejudices associated with building professions, which offer solid incomes and can help boost families into the middle class.

Initiated by the founders of Rocket School, which Provence Promotion also helped to develop in Marseille, École Gustave is aimed at people seeking professional retraining with programs that combine intensive bootcamp sessions with apprenticeships or professional contracts.

“Provence Promotion supported us in our search for premises, helped us network, and identified sources of financing,” says Pauline Courbon, who is the director of the Marseille campus. Applications for the first class of heating engineers in Marseille opened in the summer.

Marseille selected as the site for the new campus

After the downtown experienced during the pandemic, the building and civil engineering sector in France has seen a huge rebound in activity with significant investments in new construction. However, companies are finding it difficult to find and recruit employees.

The decision to establish an École Gustave campus in Marseille was based on a market study that revealed a strong demand for employees from construction companies and project owners based in Provence.

“We chose to open our school in Marseille to train talented people, help reduce unemployment, and provide workers for these short-staffed trades. The metro area’s concentration of construction companies, artisans, and suppliers in the building sector makes it easy for us to place our students for their practical work experience,” explains Pauline Courbon. The Marseille campus of the École Gustave already has the support of major actors in the construction sector, such as Sonepar, CD Sud, Bouygues Energies & Services, Vinci, and Fauché.

The training program combines a three-month bootcamp to learn the basics of the trade, followed by a one-year work-study program with a rhythm of three weeks on the job and one week at the training center. At the end of the course, the students receive professional qualifications in heating and sanitary installation. The École Gustave plans to expand in Marseille by offering a training program for electricians.

In three years, the École Gustave has trained approximately 450 people in France. More than 90% of them have been hired on permanent or long-term term contracts, or have chosen to set up their own business. This success is even more remarkable when you consider that 25% of École Gustave graduates were previously welfare recipients, and that 60% of them never received a high school diploma.