Students wanted for ESA Academy’s Standardization Training Course

ESA’s Education Office, in collaboration with ESA’s Requirements and Standards Section, are now accepting applications from university students for the fifth edition of ESA Academy’s Standardization Training Course.  This essential part of European space agencies’ and industries’ work is something students don’t usually learn at university, and is something they will definitely need in their future space-related careers.

Between 21 and 24 June 2022, the ESA Academy’s Training and Learning Facility in ESEC-Galaxia, Belgium, will welcome the selected university students. During these four days, they will be given an introduction to the ECSS and will learn from several ESA experts the importance of using standards and the impact they have on the way space activities are implemented. They will also be provided with an overview of how and why standards are used in different disciplines at ESA. 

The ECSS established a coherent, single set of user-friendly standards for all European space activities. This goal is achieved by applying common standards for project management, for the development and testing of hardware and software, and for product and quality assurance. All standards and standards updates are agreed between all the stakeholders, agencies and industry alike. Various subsets of the standards are used in the business contracts between ESA and the spacecraft manufacturers.

The use of standards is aiming to minimise technical risk and cost for space systems and space products development, while ensuring the compatibility of all elements of a space project. It is therefore essential to everything that ESA does.

Preliminary schedule

Who can apply?

In order to participate, university students must fulfil the following eligibility criteria at the time of application:

• aged minimum 18 years old. ESA Academy and relevant partners will only appraise applications from students who have no or limited professional experience in relevant scientific, engineering or other space-related topics;
• be a citizen of an ESA Member States, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania or Slovenia;
• be enrolled as a MSc (BSc completed) or PhD student in a university for the academic year 2021-2022;
• be studying an Engineering subject.

Exceptions could be made for students enrolled in a scientific degree with a minimum engineering knowledge and a clear interest in the management and implementation aspects of space projects.

The selected students will be sponsored by ESA. This will cover accommodation and meals as well as up to 300 Euros for travelling to Belgium.

Upon completion of the Training Course, students will be evaluated via an online questionnaire and will receive a certificate of participation and a course transcript, allowing them to request ECTS credits from their respective universities.

How to apply

• Fill in the application form;
• Upload a motivation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, no images);
• Upload a CV (Europass format, PDF, maximum 2 pages);
• Upload a formal recommendation letter (PDF, maximum 1 page, including signature, no images) from a university professor or academic supervisor of your current university (if not possible due to the current confinement situation in your country, please ask a university professor or an academic supervisor to send a recommendation email to tlp@esa.int);
• Upload a copy of academic records (PDF, with the university stamp) ;

All answers and documents should be in English (except academic records if not available). 

The deadline for applications is 25th of April 2022, 23:59 CEST.

For more information, please contact tlp@esa.int.

Important note
Due to the evolution of the corona virus situation in Europe, and in line with governmental instructions across Europe and with the recommendations of ESA's Director General on travel restrictions for health and safety reasons, the ESA Education Office reserves the right to cancel or change the format (online delivery) of scheduled ESA Academy training sessions.