User:Quaenuncabibis/EPFL 2.0

The EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) is a public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland. Founded by the cantonal government as École spéciale de Lausanne in 1853 in Lausanne, the school moved as a federal institution to the current campus in Ecublens in 1969. Like its sister institution ETH Zurich, it is part of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain (ETH Domain), part of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research.

EFPL's main Lausanne campus is situated in Ecublens, near Lausanne and in vicinity to the University of Lausanne. [Add main architects here] Associated campuses are located in Fribourg, Geneva, Neuchatel, and Sion. EPFL encompasses five schools, three colleges, 20 research institutes and 371 laboratories and research groups.

According to the ARWU World 2020, EPFL ranks among the 100 best universities on the 83rd position.

In the QS World University Rankings 2021 it is listed on position 14, in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2021 on the 43rd rank, and in the Leiden Ranking 2020 on position 16.

Academics
EPFL is a partly residential research university with a majority of enrollments in graduate and professional programs. EPFL's academic calendar is in line with all major Swiss universities with the school year starting in September and being divided into two semesters: autumn semester (weeks 38 to 51) and spring semester (weeks 8 to 22).

Admission for students educated in Switzerland to the first year of studies is open with no further conditions to all holding a Swiss matura degree (high-school certificate) recognized by the Swiss Confederation. However, international students are required to have a final grade average of 80% or above of the maximum grade of the upper secondary school national system. Furthermore foreign students have to provide a equivalent degree plus a level B2 qualification in French to follow Bachelor’s programs.

The real selection process happens during the first year of study. This period is called the propaedeutic cycle and the students must pass a block examination of all the courses taken during the first year at the end of the cycle. If the weighted average is insufficient, a student is required to retake the entire first year of coursework if they wish to continue their studies at the school. Roughly 50% of students fail the first year of study, and many choose to drop out rather than repeat the first year. The failure rate for the cycle differs between fields, it is highest for Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering where only 30–40% of students pass the first year.

Undergraduate program
EPFL offers 13 Bachelor's degrees in natural sciences and engineering across its five schools that usually are structured as a three year program. The study programs are enriched by 150 optional courses in social and human sciences offered by EPFL's College of Humanity. In 2020, 5,871 Bachelor's students were studying at EPFL.

On the level of Master's degrees, EPFL offers 26 study programmes. In 2020, 3,488 students were enrolled on the Master's level.

Both undergraduate study programs are supplemented by study specific or transdisciplinary minors.

The possibility to study abroad for one or two semesters is offered during the third Exchange during third Bachelor year as EPFL maintains several long-standing student exchange programs, with partner universities around the globe.

In cooperation with international partner universities, EPFL offers double degree programmes on Bachelor's and Master's levels. As of 2020, the partner universities are École Polytechnique (Paris), CentraleSupélec at Paris-Saclay University, École centrale de Lille, École normale supérieure de Lyon, Polytechnic University of Milan, Technical University of Munich, Institut supérieur de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), Grenoble Institute of Technology, Polytechnic University of Turin, Technical University of Denmark and ETH Zurich.

Graduate program
EPFL has 21 doctoral programs on offer that are complimented by a wide variety of courses success as languages or business skills. In 2020, 2,199 PhD candidates were enrolled.

Collaborations
The EPFL is member in a range of international societies and networks such as EuroTech Universities Alliance, Network of Excellence in Engineering Sciences of the French-speaking Community (RESCIF), CESAER,, CLUSTER, SEFI, International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN), Scholars at Risk (SAR), Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), European Universities Association (EUA), and International Association of Universities (IAU).

Libraries and Museums
The EPFL Library is a public library with an academic vocation. It is located in the Rolex Learning Center on EPFL's Lausanne Campus. Opened in 2010 following the merger of the former campus libraries, it welcomes approximately 1 million visitors each year. It offers its collections, services and spaces to EPFL members as well as to an external audience.

The library offers 800 workplace, privileged access to information and a meeting places. It is open to the public every day of the week, from 7am to midnight. The library provides computers, photocopiers, printers, document scanners, and microfiche and microfilm readers.

Research
EPFL annual operating revenues for the fiscal year 2019 amounted to CHF 1.056 billions. The main source of funding are federal contributions that amounted to CHF 686 millions. Indirect public funding were received the Swiss National Science Foundation, Innosuisse, other Swiss federal programs and EU Framework Programmes that amount to CHF 183 millions (2019) and are the second-largest source funding. The private sector, non-profit organizations, services revenue, tuition, and donations and bequests contributed further CHF 187 millions (2019).

Throughout the institute's history, EPFL researchers have made breakthroughs such as the School of Engineering's development of low-cost solar panels (Grätzel cells) under the leadership of Michael Grätzel. Grätzel ranks among the most cited scholars worldwide and was awarded the 2010 Millennium Technology Prize for this invention. Among EPFL's inventions are the first optical computer mouse, MOOC, and the programming language SCALA. The EPFL was also crucially involved in the development of projects like the race sailing ships Alinghi and Hydroptère, solar panel powered aircraft Solar Impulse and the Breitling Orbiter ballon expeditions. In 2020, the team of Grégoire Courtine successfully implanted a neural prothesis that enables a patient with spinal cord injuries to control his legs and walk independently with a rollator.

Clarivate's 2020 list of highly cited researchers includes 24 EPFL faculty members. Nominated in several categories or in the cross-field category are immunogist Andrea Ablasser, physicist Christophe Ballif, mathematician Annalisa Buffa, chemist Paul Joseph Dyson, material scientist Michael Grätzel, neuroscientist Pierre Magistretti, materials scientist Nicola Marzari, chemist Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin, chemical engineer Kevin Sivula, chemist Shaik M. Zakeeruddin.

Rankings
In the international QS World University Rankings 2021 EPFL is listed on position 14 overall in the world, 6th in Europe, and 2nd in Switzerland. The Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2021 placed EPFL at the 43rd rank globally, the 12th rank in Europe, and the 2nd in Switzerland in 2021. The CWTS Leiden Ranking 2020 focusing on research lists EPFL on position 16 globally and position 4 in Europe. According to the World's Most Innovative Universities 2019, Reuters lists EPFL 17th worldwide and 4th in Europe. . The Round University Ranking positions EPFL on the 19th rank globally and 17th in Europe. The Global Employability Ranking and Survey 2020 (Geurs) compiled by Emerging lists the EPFL globally and in Europe, 20th and 6th, respectively.

Another international ranking, the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Academic Ranking of World Universities, placed EPFL 83th globally and 4th in Switzerland in 2019. As stated by US News & World Report Best Global Rankings 2021, EPFL is placed on the 58th position globally.

Up until the year 2019, the Times Higher Education World University Ranking listed the EPFL in the Young University Ranking: 2019 and 2018 on the 2nd place behind Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and 2017 on the 1st rank.

EPFL Alumni
The EPFL Alumni is a department of EPFL whose mission is to maintain a lifelong link between the school and its around 37,000 graduates. All EPFL graduates holding a Bachelor, Master, Doctorate or EMBA degree, as well as certain other postgraduate degrees, are automatically members of the network.

The EPFL Alumni offers EPFL graduates a permanent link with the school through its communication (newsletters, magazines, social networks, etc.) as well as numerous services, including physical and digital events, personalized career advice, a lifetime email address, and numerous discounts notably for continuing education. The EPFL Alumni is active worldwide through its 27 chapters around the world.

Since 2004 EPFL Alumni presents the EPFL Alumni Award annually to EPFL graduates with distinguished careers. Among the awardees are Daniel Bore l (founder and chairman of Logitech), Franck Riboud (chairman at Danone), André Borschberg (CEO and pilot of the Solar Impulse), Jacques Baur (R&D Director of Rolex), Igor Perisic (LinkedIn), Claudia de Rham (cosmologist) and Mattia Binotto (Scuderia Ferrari).

Notable people
{Main article: List of EPFL people}

EPFL's active alumni base of more than 37,000 devote themselves to the university through organizations and events.

A number of alumni have made significant contributions in the fields of government, law, science, academia, business, arts, journalism, and athletics, among others.

Government and NGOs
Daniel Brélaz (mathematician, former member of the National Council of Switzerland and Environmentalist), Luc Recordon (engineer, lawyer, politician, former member of Swiss National Council and Swiss Council of States), Dominique Andrey (advisor for military affairs, Swiss Department of Defence)

Robert Mardini (director general of ICRC)

Academia and reasearch
chemist Jacques Dubochet (winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry), mathematician Alexandre Chorin (Professor at the University of California, Berkeley and Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), cosmologist Claudia de Rham (Imperial College), Alain Fuchs (President at French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) until 2017, currently President at Paris Sciences et Lettres University), André Gorz (philosopher and economist), computer scientist Jean-Daniel Nicoud (inventor of optical computer mouse), engineer Francesco Mondada (inventor of Khepera robots), Claude Nicolier (former ESA astronaut), Raquel Urtasun (head of Uber ATG Self-Driving Unit, professor at University of Toronto), Maurice Cosandey (former president of EPFL); Erna Hamburger (first female professor at EPFL); Claudia Clopath (Professor of Computational Neuroscience at Imperial College London); Kamila Markram (founder and CEO of Frontiers); Ghislain Bardout (explorer, Under The Pole missions)

Lawyer and computer scientist Hugo Sbai (youngest ever PhD at University of Oxford with 17 years),

Literature
In the area of literature, the Swiss writer Metin Arditi won the Prix Jean-Giono, the Prix Paroles et Plumes, and the Prix Millepages for his novel Le Turquetto.

Architecture, Arts and Literature
Inès Lamunière (designlab-architecture), civil engineer Léonard Gianadda (founder of the museum and collection Fondation Pierre Gianadda in Martigny), Philippe Rahm (architect), Vincent Mangeat (architect, co-founder of ESAR - École spéciale d'architecture de Lausanne), Carole Trousseau (general secretary at Grand Théâtre de Genève, former opera singer)

Business
The current or recent president, CEO, or chairman of each of the following Fortune 500 companies is a EPFL alumnus:

Othman Benjelloun (billionaire businessman)

Daniel Borel (founder and chairman at Logitech), Franck Riboud (chairman at Danone), Vincent Ducrot (General Director at Swiss Federal Railways), Christophe Beck (CEO at Ecolab), Pierre-Alain Ruffieux (CEO at Lonza), Christoph Aeschlimann (CIO & CTO at Swisscom), Jacques Baur (Director of Research at Rolex), Woosung Han (Executive Vice President at Samsung Austin Semiconductor), Stephane Linder (COO at Breitling), Vanni Henri (Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors at Novartis), Irina du Bois (Deputy Director at Nestlé, Board of Director at Givaudan), André Borschberg (former CEO and pilot of Solar Impulse), Patrick Hertzog (co-founder of Nexthink); Igor Perisic (Chief Data Officer at LinkedIn); Mougahed Darwish (board of directors at Swatch Group); Steve Anavi (founder and President, Qonto),  Mark Bürki and Paolo Buzzi  (co-founders of Swissquote), Maximilian Büsser (founder, CEO and chief creative officer of MB&F), Bertrand Cardis (Decision SA, Alinghi, Solar Impulse),  Liu Shaoming (VP & Board Member of Colibri Technologies), Philippe Petitpierre (founder & chairman of the Holdigaz Group), Magdi Batato (executive VP, COO and member of executive board of Nestlé), Florence Schnydrig Moser (head of private banking at Zürcher Kantonalbank); Camille Vial (president of the board, managing partner at Mirabaud Group), Mattia Binotto (chief techical officer at Scuderia Ferrari), Nicolas Cudré-Mauroux (CTO of Solvay), Daniel Gorostidi (chairman of the board of ELCA Group), Stefan Kudelski (founder of Kudelski Group and inventor of the Nagra), André Kudelski (CEO of Kudelski), Guy Berruyer (chief executive of Sage Group), Aart de Geus (chairman, founder and CEO of Synopsys), Silvio Napoli (president of the executive management board of the Schindler Group), Jurgi Camblong (founder and CEO of Sophia Genetics), Nicolas Durand and Iwan Märki (CEO and CTO, co-founders of Abionic), Nicola Tomatis (founder and CEO of BlueBotics), Arnaud Salomon (founder and CEO of  MtPelerin), Alexandre Gonthier (founder of Trustly),

Rodrigo Schmidt (Sr. Director Engineering at Instagram),

Eric Favre (inventor of Nespresso capsule system at Nestlé), George de Mestral (inventor of Velcro)

Recent notable startups founded by EPFL alumni include Siri (Didier Guzzoni, aquired by Apple Inc.), Best Mile (Anne Mellano and Raphael Gindrat), AMAL Therapeutics (Madiha Derouazi), VIMEO (Mark Kornfilt), Sun Bioscience (Sylke Hoehnel), Lunaphore (Ata Tuna Ciftlik, Déborah Heintze, and Diego Dupouy), Playfulvision (Horesh Ben Shitrit), Checkr (Yanisse Daniel),  Taurus Group (Sebastien Dessimoz),  Tej Tadi (founder and CEO of Mindmaze), Flyability (Patrick Thévoz and Adrien Briod), ID Quantique (Grégoire Ribordy, CEO),  Tayo, Pristem, Insolight (Marie Ivorra Grosse, board member)

Athletics
Alexandre Imperatori (racing driver)

EPFL Magazine
In 1973, EPFL launched its internal newspaper, called Flash. From an opinion paper where professors and students crossed swords on major political issues, it became over the years an information paper open to all departments of the school, following an almost bi-monthly rhythm. In 2016, it was replaced by EPFL Magazine, enriched with thematic dossiers, articles on campus life, and major interviews. Published 9 times a year, it was distributed until the end of 2020 on EPFL campuses.

In 2021, a new magazine, simply called EPFL, will be launched with the ambition of going beyond the perimeter of the School. Produced by by EPFL's communication department Mediacom in collaboration with EPFL's alumni network, the science-oriented magazine will be published seasonally and distributed on and off the EPFL campus in some 18,000 copies, in both French and English. It will also be available by subscription.