By Ruben Fiszel

IC is "Informatique and Communication"

(Computer Science and Systems of communication) 

EPFL is "École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne"

(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne)

IC is our faculty

• Medium size university
• ~10 000 students and PhD
• ~6 000 academic staff (338 professors)
• Shanghai 2015: 14th in Eng
• Times Higher Education: 10th Ing & Tech, 1st in most International, 1st of less than 50 y.o
• Qs Ranking: 17th general, 10th Ing & Tech

Some numbers 

• Founded in 1853 but very tiny at that time
• By 4 persons, of which 3 from French « Grandes Écoles » (Centrale and Polytechnique)
• In 1969, became a Federal Institution (join ETHZ)
• in 2000 Patrick Aebischer, EPFL president, creates a Life Science department and give EPFL an international aura

Quick History

Human Brain Project

Simulate the human brain with super-computers. EPFL wide project

Total estimated cost: $1.19B (~150B Yen)

EU flagship project

Help understanding neurological disorder affecting 2B persons

Scala is made by IC

- Functionnal and Oriented-Object language

- Run on the JVM, compatible with Java code

- Modern alternative to Java

Used by Amazon, LinkedIn, Twitter and more

EPFL Scientific Park: Space on Campus to collaborate with start-up and tech companies.

Lablets on campus 
     (Credit Suisse, Logitech, ….)

Major research grants from key players

(e.g in CS: Microsoft [Catapult], Google, Oracle, Qualcomm, ....)

Alumni network:

- Daniel Borel, Logitech CEO and cofounder

- Franck Riboud, Danone CEO until 2014 

- ...

Industrial collaborations 

How is it to study there

• It's awesome, really! (unless you struggle :<)
• In theory, do your exercises « séries » weekly , and you will be okay
• In practice, late exercices accumulate during semester
• 2 weeks before the end-of-semester exam, students panic and become very studious
• Selective education: Accessible to all, but hard to get degree from

• Only 58% of student get the diploma
• Among them only 58% never fail a year

Switzerland tops Many charts

• #1/133 in Global Competitiveness (World Economic Forum 2010-2014)
• #1/143 in Global Innovation Index (World Intellectual Property Organisation 2014)
• #1/? in IT spending by Capita
• #2/142 Prosperity Index (Legatum Institute 2014)
• #3/187 Human Development Index (UN Development Programe 2014)
• #8/155 Happiness (Gallup World Poll) 

Life in Lausanne

• Switzerland offers a very nice quality of life
• EPFL is public :633- (=~640USD) by semester
• Cost of life is very high
• But wages are also very high
• Lausanne is a medium size student city:  133 521 people and 2 major university (UNIL and EPFL)
• Switzerland has a very reliable train network (probabaly similar to Japan)
• You can travel anywhere in Switzerland easily
• Skiing and Hiking in beautiful landscapes is common

Questions ?

Venice Time Machine

Recreate Venice under multiple views:

- Urban

- Cultural

- Environmental

- Human

EPFL wide project

Courses

• In undergraduate, for every major (except architecture but they're ... a bit special), the courses are split into 2 "Block". You have to pass them independently.
• One is the big block, focused on theory and fundamental courses. 
• Second is the small block, very specific to your major. It's often more applied courses.