1. Introduction

ISBA-TP is one of the French "Grandes Ecoles" specialized in Civil Engineering. Founded in 1952, the institute was recognised by the state in 1955. ISBA-TP has been since October 1976 part of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Marseille Provence, under the supervision authority of the French Ministry for Industry. As a result the Institute is in close and permanent connection with companies, engineering and design departments, control offices. As all "Grandes Ecoles", ISBA-TP endeavours to achieve the three following goals :

· Initial training of specialisation in civil engineering (third cycle),
· Services to companies, construction manager and project owners,
· Research.

Part of ISBA-TP, the FORMISBA cell is in charge of continuous training activities. The Institute is registered as a continuous training center under the number 93 13 0 182 413, and since 2000, FORMISBA has been certified ISO-9001 by D.N.V.
FORMISBA develops continuous training programs based on principles and on methodology that will significantly contribute to improve the competence of professional engineers in the south east of France. Continuous training is important for professionals today : new products, new building codes, new technologies …

2. Programs of continuous training activities

Professionals are questioned twice a year by mailing. Their demands concerning continuous training are expressed in a relatively precise way.
The synthesis of the answers enables us to establish a first proposal for continuous training programs and conferences for the next year.
Then, at the beginning of the year, a forward program is established and validated by the School Board. The opinion of this committee including professionals of the building industry will be particularly relevant.
The programs are usually sent or can be found on our Internet site in the heading continuous training.

3. Preparation and progress of a training

Approximately a month before the training start, a mail is sent to the engineers likely to be interested. This mail contains the names of the speakers, the program, the cost and the place of the training. According to their importance and their contents, trainings usually last between half a day to four days.
The limited number of the people taking part in each training permits a better learning and teaching and a better exchange of information between the attending engineers and the animators. For all these training sessions, the speakers are company experts from engineering and design departments.
After having attended a continuous training activity, each engineer receives a certificate indicating the title of the training, its program and its duration.
The satisfaction of these engineers is analysed in two ways :

· Initially, at the end of the day, the live opinion of the engineers is collected.
· Then, each one has to fill questionnaire.

The synthesis of these questionnaires enables us to analyse the satisfactions of the engineers and to inform the animators. If necessary, the remarks will be taken into account for further trainings.

4. Inter-companies trainings

The target is to established training schemes adapted to the general needs of the building industry or engineering and design departments of civil engineering.
Those programs are developed by professionals. They are established according to the results of mailed questionnaires sent to companies twice a year, and validated by the School Board. In 2001-2002 training periods lasted approximately 7 days and were followed by 55 trainees. The most important events are quoted below :

· "New concrete of today and tomorrow "
· "Para-seismic design of buildings "
· "Use of ultra-powerful fiber concrete (BFUP)"
· "EUROCODES 0 and 1 - application to structures"
· "Concrete pathology"
· "EUROCODE 2 - application to reinforced and prestressed concrete structures"
· "The soil report - understanding and studying"

The continuous "Eurocodes" trainings are the main actions of this year. Indeed, at the end of a long process, Eurocodes are becoming an irreversible reality and will be applied in 2005 for government contracts. At the beginning of the year, a significant step was reached with the first published standards EN 1990 "Basis of structural design" and soon EN 1991-1-2 "Actions on structures - General actions - Actions on structures exposed to fire".
Those are the first standards from a series of about sixty which will together form a set of design codes for civil engineering, which will be entirely available by 2010. They will gradually replace the national rules in each country. Up to now, Eurocodes have been used by a small number of experts. But these new design rules are now recognized as a common, global, coherent though complex system of standards.
Their application entails a significant evolution : a new technical culture, a new method of working and new skill. This is why, with the support of the "Ecole Française du Béton", we are setting up this cycle of "Eurocodes" trainings.

5. Intra-companies training

In this case, the content is defined by the company and specifically adapted to its staff. At the request of 2 companies, 3 training periods took place in 2001-2002 and were followed by about 34 trainees. One of the trainings was about : "civil engineering structures - foundation structures ", for OTV France - Méditerranée and Rhône Alpes.

6. Thematic conferences

Thematic conferences (precast structures, soil reinforcements, laminated steel products, reinforced concrete pathology…) were also organised by FORMISBA. In 2001-2002, four conferences took place, which lasted about 4 hours each. Some examples are noticed below :

· "Techniques of soil reinforcement" (SOLETANCHE BACHY)
· "Laminate steel products" (ARCELOR)
· "To build with precast concrete products" (BDI-PPB-FEDER BETON)
· "Concrete additives" (SYNAD)

7. Conclusion

FORMISBA is at the service of the companies and design departments of the construction industry. The continuous training activities organised by FORMISBA meet perfectly the demands of the people who are concerned, which is the originality and the specificity of our service. These exchanges enable us to do our best to meet their request concerning continuous training.