Lausanne Polytechnic

The Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL) is a public research university located in Lausanne, Switzerland. She specializes in natural sciences and engineering. It is one of two Swiss Federal Polytechnics, with three main missions: education, research and innovation. The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne is part of the Swiss Federal Polytechnics sector (ETH sector). It depends on the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research. In relation to research and teaching activities, EPFL operates a CROCUS nuclear reactor, a TCV tokamak fusion reactor, a Blue Gene/Q supercomputer and P3 biohazard facilities. The roots of today's EPFL date back to the founding of a private school with the name École Spéciale de Lausanne in 1853. It happened on the initiative of Lois Rivier, a graduate of the École Centrale in Paris, and John Gay, then professor and rector of the Académie de Lausanne. At the beginning it had only eleven students and the headquarters was located in Rue du Valentin, but in 1869 it became the Technical Department of the Académie de Lausanne. Like all Swiss public universities, EPFL is obliged to grant admission to all Swiss residents who have obtained the local baccalaureate degree. International students at the Polytechnic University of Lausanne are required to have a final average of 80 percent or more of the national upper secondary school maximum grade. In 1974, it separated from the University of Lausanne and became an autonomous federal institution with its current name. Five years later EPFL began construction of a new campus in Dorigny in Écublens, a suburb southwest of the city on the shores of Lake Geneva.