The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne in Switzerland.

History

Founded in 1853 as a private school under the name École spéciale de Lausanne, it became the technical department of the public Académie de Lausanne in 1869. When the latter was reorganized and acquired the status of a university in 1890, the technical faculty changed its name to École d'ingénieurs de l'Université de Lausanne. In 1946, it was renamed to École polytechnique de l'Université de Lausanne (EPUL).

In 1969, the EPUL was separated from the rest of the university of Lausanne and became a federal institute under its current name. The EPFL, like the ETHZ, is thus directly controlled by the Swiss federal government. In contrast, all other universities in Switzerland are controlled by their respective cantonal governments.

Campus

The origins of the EPFL were in the center of Lausanne. In 1978, the EPFL moved to its new campus in Écublens, a suburb west of Lausanne on the shores of Lake Geneva. In 2002 the school of architecure moved to the campus in Écublens. This united all departments of the EPFL on the same site.

Faculties

The EPFL is constituted of the following faculties:

• ENAC (Environnement naturel, architectural et construit) – architecture, civil engineering, agronomy
• I&C (Informatique et communications) – computer science and telecommunications
• SB (Sciences de base) – mathematics, physics and chemistry
• STI (Sciences et techniques de l'ingénieur) – engineering
• SV (Sciences de la vie) – life sciences
• CdH (Collège des humanités) – humanities

Statistics

In 1946, there were 360 students at the EPUL. In 1969, the EPFL numbered 1'400 students and 55 professors. The university continued to grow rapidly, and in 2002, there were 5'872 students enrolled.

In 2004 there are more than 9000 people at the EPFL. About 6000 of these are students, with the remainder consisting of professors, assistants and even entrepreneurs located in the Parc Scientifique of the EPFL. There are over 80 nationalities at the EPFL, with over 50% of the teaching staff coming from outside of Switzerland.

The EPFL have acted as advisors for the Alinghi project, leading to a success at the America's Cup in New Zealand in 2003. The EPFL is also developing a sun-powered glider, Solar Impulse, designed to be completely autonomous (capable of circumnavigation). Bertrand Piccard is the intended pilot for the demonstration of the glider.

See also

• ETH Zurich
• List of universities in Switzerland
• GNUWin

External link

• EPFL online

Photographs

A view of the Piccard Avenue.

Inner corridors in the East Center

SG Place

SG Place