Guest of “Thread of the water”Christelle Suler, a biology and ecology teacher, is in charge of coordinating the BTS in water management and control, at the Courcelles-Chaussy agricultural high school, near Metz in Moselle.
Water is a vital resource to be preserved and also a sector of the future for employment. 124 000 employees with a hiring prospect of 13 000 people by 2025. Today, new professions are appearing and training is multiplying from the CAP (certificate of professional aptitude) to the BAC+8 doctorate.
The main activities of the water sector are the protection, monitoring and maintenance of the natural environment, the supply, conveyance and distribution of drinking water, but also the management, treatment and purification of waste.
The BTS GEMEAU is given in about forty agricultural high schools in France. It is a two-year course, accessible after obtaining the baccalaureate (Bac S, Technological Bac STAV-STI2D6STL, Bac pro in Agro-equipment, Maintenance of Automated Mechanical Systems) but also after a university degree in the field of physics, chemistry and technologies related to the environment. The training cycle includes 1740 hours of teaching and at least 12 weeks of internship.
“The disciplines taught within the framework of the BTS GEMEAU are general education disciplines, explains Christelle Suler. The student will take courses in economic, social and legal organization. Communication courses as well as a living language, but also professional education modules related to water. This concerns water treatment, information technologies related to water, teaching in hydraulic planning but also biology, topography, and computer-aided design.
“Currently, the sectors that recruit the most are those related to the management of natural environments, waterways and biodiversity” explains the teacher, the hydraulic infrastructures also recruit students coming out of a BTS GEMEAU, as well as the agricultural environment for the irrigation of crops.
Christelle Suler recognizes that new outlets have appeared in recent years in the hydrotherapy sector, in the hospital environment and in industry for monitoring water quality.
“In general, the students who enter training have a fairly broad idea of the trades that can be offered to them. Some follow this BTS because they want to become a river technician, but when they continue their studies, they discover other trades. , in connection with the water cycle.Professions that range from water collection to discharge into the natural environment, including treatment, purification and development of waterways. It’s a huge industry.” recognizes Christelle Suler.
The BTS training also offers students concrete missions in the field.
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The agricultural school of Courcelles-Chaussy has launched a territorial project on the 200 hectares of the establishment which includes a farm and training centers.
This project, which was launched a few months ago, is linked to the renaturation of 2 kilometers of waterways on the school site, and therefore the development and management of a wetland in an agricultural environment.
To access water jobs, there is a BAC PRO (BAC PRO process in Chemistry and water), but Christelle Suler recognizes that after a Bac pro, young people are led to continue BTS level, or even a pro license or an engineering school.“In fact, there is a whole sector in the field of water which goes from the simple BAC pro to BAC +5, or even more” she concludes.