Applications now open for ESA Academy's Product Assurance Awareness Training Course 2023

This course was developed in collaboration with ESA’s Product Assurance and Safety Department and will equip 30 University students with knowledge in Product Assurance (PA). Experts will teach them how this knowledge is implemented in a space project not only in ESA but also in the Space Industry. 

PA engineers are a crucial part of mission  implementation. They are responsible for ensuring that materials, mechanical parts, processes, and electrical components used in spacecraft and launchers are fit for their purpose over the entire lifetime of the mission.

Given the nature and importance of this role, ESA’s PA engineers are required to have a different mentality than the other team members. While “thinking outside the box” is a cliché for some people, it is absolutely essential for PA engineers. These engineers need exceptionally high levels of perception, forethought, and imagination to anticipate problems and pre-emptively save missions from failure. 

This  course is designed to attract the next generation of specialists needed to fulfil these vital positions. Run by ESA’s current PA managers and discipline experts, it allows the students to discover, through interactive lectures, how PA is an integral part of engineering activities, playing a role in the development, design, test philosophy, building, and operation of systems. The trainers also instil in students the unique ethos at the heart of every successful PA engineer. For this new edition, the students will also be exposed to the PA perspectives and experiences from the Space Industry.

Preliminary Schedule

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 claim ECTS credit(s) from their respective universities.

Who can apply?

In order to participate, students must fulfil the following 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 engineering or space-related topics;
• be a citizen of an ESA Member State, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia or Slovenia;
• be enrolled as a MSc (BSc completed) or PhD student in a university (not graduating before the training course);
• be studying for an engineering subject;

Exception 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.

Selected students will be requested to attend the entire 4 day training course at ESEC-Galaxia. They will be sponsored by ESA to cover accommodation and meals, as well as up to 300 Euros for travelling to and from Belgium.

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 current university; (if it is not possible to receive the recommendation letter from your referee, please ask them to send a recommendation email to tlp@esa.int before the application deadline);
• Upload a copy of academic records (PDF).

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

The deadline for applications is Thursday 6 April 2023 at 23:59 CEST.

For more information, please contact tlp@esa.int