École Centrale de Lille is a graduate engineering school, with roots back to 1854 as the École des arts industriels et des mines de Lille, re-organised in 1872 as Institut industriel du Nord. It is one of the Centrale Graduate Schools.

Villeneuve-d'Ascq is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métropole Européenne de Lille and the largest in area (27.46 km2) after Lille. It is also one of the main cities of the Hauts-de-France region.