The AREVA Corporate Foundation is contributing financial aid to young scholarship students who are laureates of the Georges Besse Foundation. A new class of 22 students has been chosen for the 2014/2015 school year. Divided almost equally between boys and girls and including nine foreigners, most are in special classes to prepare for the competitive entrance examination to the Grandes écoles.
The goal of the Georges Besse Foundation is to help top science students with serious financial difficulties successfully complete their engineering studies. The Foundation chooses a wide variety of students with an excellent academic record, both boys and girls, French or foreign studying in France, and helps them succeed in higher scientific education programs.
Since it was established in 1987, the Georges Besse Foundation has given financial aid to more than 500 laureates, 95% of whom have received or will soon receive their engineering diplomas.
From modest beginnings, Georges Besse’s academic brilliance led him to École polytechnique and the Corps des Mines. He had a remarkable career, directing some of France’s largest companies.
On November 17, 1986, Georges Besse was assassinated by a group of terrorists.
In March 1987, at the urging of André Giraud, then French Minister of Defense, the Georges Besse Foundation was created by its founding members, including COGEMA / AREVA, under the aegis of the Fondation de France.