French student chooses KAIST over MIT

Guillaume Thenaisie

By Kwon Ji-youn

A French engineering student has become the first graduate from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris to sign up for a Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) doctoral program.

Guillaume Thenaisie, 24, chose KAIST over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Cornell University.

He has been studying electrical engineering since March.

“I didn’t hesitate at all before deciding to come to Korea,” Thenaisie said. “KAIST is well known for its professionalism in electrical engineering.”

Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris is one of the most prominent French engineering schools and a member of ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology), a group of prestigious universities specializing in engineering.

Thenaisie obtained a master’s degree there.

George Charpak, the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physics winner, and the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics winner Maurice Allais graduated from the university.

“Regular people may not be familiar with KAIST, but those who are in the sciences are,” he said. “Of course Oxford, Cambridge and MIT are well known engineering schools, but KAIST’s strengths lie in its practicality and technology,” he said.

Thenaisie previously studied as an exchange student at KAIST in March 2012. He learned about the school through his dean at Ecole des Mines de Paris, one of KAIST’s partner universities and was attracted by the school’s provision of scholarships and living expenses.

Three months into his program at KAIST, Thenaisie said he does not regret his choice.

“I enjoy the academic atmosphere of KAIST,” he said. “Lectures are 100 percent in English, so it is not difficult for foreign students.”

But he did mention a potential flaw in the KAIST program.

“In France, only 30 percent of the classes you take are related to your major. The rest are in economics, finance and communications,” he said.

“I believe that communication is a skill especially necessary for engineers because research requires the teamwork of scientists and engineers, and they need to communicate with government employees to publicize their findings.”

About his future, Thenaisie said nothing has been set in stone.

“The final goal in my studies is to be happy.”