At the heart of the Group's activity, Thales' corporate university designs and disseminates training offers suited to the needs of each employee and to the company's major strategic challenges; it also contributes, through an internal consulting structure (Thales Missions et Conseil), to instituting change within the Group's various entities.

Thales Université employs over 150 people across 7 sites (Stuttgart, Germany; Sydney, Australia; Washington DC, United States; Jouy-en-Josas, France; Rome, Italy; Hengelo, Netherlands; and Crawley, United Kingdom); other sites will soon be open in other countries, to support the Group's international development.

Training suited to each employee's needs

The training programme is structured around 4 practices ("Management and Change", "Marketing and Sales", "Programme Management and Business Processes" and "Software, Systems and Other Transverse Technologies"), for which Thales Université offers both:

• corporate programmes, common to the Group as a whole and which support, in each job family, employees' major career development stages;

• à la carte programmes, in response to requirements specifically voiced by the operational entities.

The Group's managers and experts actively involve themselves in running the training programmes and defining their content, thereby ensuring that they will fulfil both the employees' career development needs and the Group's expectations.

In 2007, over 20 000 employees followed training at Thales Université.

A keystone to managing employee career paths in the Group

Thales Université supports the Group's employees through the key stages of their career development, through its presence:

• upon their entry into the Group, at the Welcome Conventions, held in Europe, as well as in the United States, Australia, China and India;

• throughout their careers, to take stock of their career development prospects and foster mobility within the Group.

A consulting structure to spread innovation within the Group

Also a partner to the Group's operational entities, Thales Université has set up an internal consulting structure, Thales Missions et Conseil. Responsible for identifying and disseminating best practices, the structure carries out functions as a supplement or substitute to outside consulting firms.

Composed of some fifty consultants all previously in operational positions at Thales, its added values lies in their deep familiarity with in-house organisation, giving it a unique ability to spark change and innovation in each of the Group's entities.