For more than two hundred years, Ecole Polytechnique, the most prestigious educational establishment in France, has been dedicated to educating students in Science and Technology at the highest level.
The mission of Ecole Polytechnique is to train students capable of devising and achieving complex and innovative projects at the highest-level possible, thanks to a strong multidisciplinary scientific education. Among Polytechnique-related high-technology projects are the TGV, France?s high-speed train; Ariane rocket launchers; the only commercial supersonic aircraft, the Concorde; Airbus planes; the world-wide implementation of the most successful mobile telephone system, the GSM; and France?s nuclear reactor system.
The Ecole's mission is also to train young men and women in leadership skills so that they can become tomorrow's outstanding scientists, researchers, managers and public officials.
Ecole Polytechnique, a state-supported Grande Ecole, with 2,500 students, more than 900 faculty members and 1,600 people in its Research Centre, is a member of the ParisTech group which is composed of ten of the foremost French Graduate Institutes of Science & Technology located in the Paris area.
There are many reasons why outstanding students in Science and Technology might choose to study at Ecole Polytechnique:
- A wide and comprehensive curriculum which offers each and every student a unique chance to choose from selected courses and map out his or her own professional goals
- The Research Centre is on the cutting edge of most scientific fields; the development of partnerships -one of the most ambitious projects in Europe- has helped forge links with institutions of higher learning from all over the world
- Ecole Polytechnique's alumni hold key positions in the world of Science, Business, Industry and in the Public Sector
- Beyond its academic requirements, the Institute is committed to training young men and women of excellence for leadership, including through student clubs and service to the community, but also in sports and recreational activities which can be practiced on a large campus with all the necessary modern facilities just 20 minutes away from Paris.
These are some of the many reasons why Ecole Polytechnique has been regularly ranked first for undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Science and Technology among the French Grandes Ecoles and why it is considered as one of the finest institutions of higher learning in Science in the world. Directed by a board of trustees consisting of twenty-six leaders in Business and Industry, Science, Engineering, Higher Education and other managerial professions, Ecole Polytechnique is also supported by a very strong alumni association.
People
Alumni include:
- Scientists
* Mathematicians: Cauchy, Coriolis, Monge, Poincaré, Poisson; Paul Lévy (probability theory), Benoît Mandelbrot (fractal geometry)
* Physicists: Ampère (co-discovered electromagnetism), Becquerel (Nobel Prize in Physics ? co-discovered radioactivity), Carnot (founder of the field of thermodynamics), Fresnel (major contributor to wave optics), Navier (Navier-Stokes equations)
* Chemists: Gay Lussac
* Economists: Maurice Allais (Nobel Prize in Economics)
* Astronauts: Jean-François Clervoy and Philippe Perrin.
- Presidents of the French Republic: Sadi Carnot, Valéry Giscard d?Estaing
- Founders of Corporations: André Citroën, Conrad Schlumberger, Serge Dassault
- Chairmans or CEOs of multinational companies: Patrick Kron (Alstom), Claude Bébéar (Axa), Michel Pébereau (BNP Paribas), Pierre Gadonneix (EDF), Didier Lombard (France Telecom), Bertrand Collomb (Lafarge), Bernard Arnault (LVMH), Carlos Ghosn (Nissan / Renault), Jean-Paul Herteman (Safran), Jean-Louis Beffa (Saint-Gobain), Gérard Mestrallet (Suez), Denis Ranque (Thales)
- Military Officers: Generals Foch and Joffre
- and the Philosopher Auguste Comte, the Tennis Champion Jean Borotra (Davis Cup Winner), the Architect Paul Andreu.
Former faculty members include Joseph Fourier, Joseph-Louis Lagrange or Laurent Schwartz (Fields Medal). 14 professors at Ecole Polytechnique are currently members of the French Academy of Sciences, among them Jacques-Louis Lions (Fields Medal).
What students say?
Sunanda Prabhu-Gaunkar - Indian
I came to know of the very special profile of X (Ecole Polytechnique?s nickname) among the top Graduate Institute of Science & Technology of the world. I decided to take up the challenge of the ?concours? (international admission). Not knowing French made me hesitate but that was no problem at all at that time. Learning the language thereafter was an experience I shall cherish. The campus is superb and the routine here is just the right blend of studies, sports and other extracurricular activities. Me, like others coming from different countries find it exciting and enriching. It was worth accepting this challenge and temptation to come to one of the best campuses of the world to be in.
Maxime Boucher - Canadian
What I like the most about Ecole Polytechnique is the multidisciplinarity of the curriculum. Hence, on top of the usual scientific courses, I'll be able to follow general humanities and social sciences courses not necessarily applied to engineering, foreign language courses and sport. Also, with the numerous travels organized by students, I'll go this year to Ireland with my rugby team and I'll live two months in Japan in a family to learn Japanese.
Lionel Corre - French
Today, Ecole Polytechnique is increasingly wide open to the World. We do have the opportunity to spend part of our curriculum in a prestigious institution abroad, such as Stanford or Tokyo University. On the reverse, on the campus, you can meet more and more international students from all over the world, from Russia, to the United States, from China to Sweden... Moreover, according to our passions, we have founded associations like mine, X-Japon, whose aim is to foster the opening towards Japan.
Good at?
Science & Technology: Physics & Applied Physics, Engineering Mechanics, Computer Science, Mathematics & Applied Mathematics, Economics & Finance, Life Sciences
