École Supérieure en Informatique 8 Mai 1945 de Sidi-Bel-Abbès was founded in 2014, as Algeria’s second advanced school of computer science. It is located at Sidi-Bel-Abbas, in the west of the country, roughly 50 miles inland from the Mediterranean.
It shares a campus with Sidi Djillali University. Students also share nearby university accommodation and have easy access to the University stop on Sidi-Bel-Abbas’s tramway, opened in 2017.
École Supérieure en Informatique 8 Mai 1945 de Sidi-Bel-Abbès aims to "contribute to the national effort of scientific research and technical development", and to "participate with the international community in the exchange of knowledge for its enrichment".
It offers a five-year programme leading to a master’s degree and a State Engineer diploma. This consists of two years’ preparation and a third year common core, followed by two more years focusing on one of three specialities: information and web systems, computer systems engineering, and artificial intelligence and data science. The official language is French, but there are some courses in English.
Entry is highly competitive. In 2022 ESI demanded a minimum weighted average score of 15 in the national Baccalaureate, but the average of those who gained admission was not far below 18.
ESI provided three of the six Algerian students who contested the final of the Huawei World ICT championship in China in 2022, including Karabadji Lina, winner of the Women in Technology prize. Fourth-year student Mahfoud Koucha was 2023 world champion in the 71kg category of Sambo wrestling.
