École Centrale Paris
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Ecole Centrale Paris |
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| Motto | A Grande Ecole without boundaries |
| Established | 1829 |
| Type | Public, Grand établissement |
| President | Hervé Biausser |
| Students | 1,394 |
| Location | Chatenay Malabry, France |
| Website | http://www.ecp.fr |
École Centrale Paris is a leading French Grande Ecole of engineering, what can be assimilated to a top technical university. It has the special status of Grand établissement. It is also known by its original name École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, or ECP.
École Centrale Paris belongs to the Intergroupe des Écoles Centrale network, with its sister institutions (Lyon, Lille, Nantes, Marseille, and Beijing.). It was the founder in 1988 of the TIME network, which allows for student exchanges between leading european engineering schools. It also belongs to CESAER, an association of european engineering schools.
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[edit] Location
École Centrale Paris is located in Châtenay-Malabry, Hauts-de-Seine, a southern suburb of Paris, France (in a region called Île-de-France), next to the Parc de Sceaux and its Château de Sceaux.
[edit] History
The École was founded in 1829 on a private initiative by Alphonse Lavallée, who was its first president, and three associates: Eugene Peclet, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and Théodore Olivier. The founding vision was to educate multidisciplinary engineers for the emerging industrial sector. The institution was given to the French state in 1857 by its creator, Alphonse Lavallée.
Initially located in the Hôtel de Juigné (now Hôtel Salé' and home to the Musée Picasso), it was transferred to rue Montgolfier in 1884, where it stayed until 1969. Its current location neighbors the Parc de Sceaux.
Former location of the École Centrale, rue Montgolfier in Paris (3rd arrondissement)
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[edit] The Centralien program
The centralien program is the original and main program offered by the École. It is quite different from typical university or college studies; and specific to the French system of Grandes Ecoles. Studies go beyond the undergratuate level and the engineering degree of Ecole Centrale Paris (Ingénieur Centralien or "centralien engineer") must be considered the equivalent of a Master of Science. The curriculum is nevertheless similar to those offered at other French Grandes Ecoles, such as Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole des Mines de Paris or Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées.
The class of 2008 is about 450 students.
[edit] Admission
Most of the students are admitted after two to three years of Classes Préparatoires, which correspond to two years of post high-school education with heavy emphasis on Maths and Physics (freshman and sophomore years at US universities). At the end of the second year ("Mathematiques Speciales") students take a nation-wide competitive entrance examination for the Grandes Ecoles, including Ecole Centrale Paris. The ECP recruits among the top 6% of the students in classes preparatoires, which makes it a selective and prestigious institution. A few students come from French universities after completing three or four years of post high-school education. A significative contingent of students also comes from leading international universities which belong to the TIME network (Top Industrial Managers for Europe).
[edit] Curriculum
Education at the ECP is multidisciplinary and typically lasts three to four years. During the first two years (Tronc Commun, or "Common Trunk"), students are required to take classes in science (Mathematics, Physics, Biology); in engineering (Continuum Mechanics, Heat transfer, Digital image processing, Computer programming,...) and in social sciences (Economics, Management, foreign languages,...). After these two years of "Tronc Commun", students choose to major in a particular field, which they study for one year and a half to two years. After completing these 3 years and a half to four years of education, they receive the degree of "Ingénieur des Arts et Manufactures", more commonly called "ingenieur centralien"
[edit] National and international ties
The École Centrale Paris belongs to the French Intergroupe des Écoles Centrales, together with École Centrale de Lyon, École Centrale de Lille, and École Centrale de Nantes, École Centrale de Marseille and École Centrale de Pékin (Beijing).
Since 1837, the school has built important international ties. Students come from around the world to study for several years on the school campus. École Centrale students may also obtain a "double diploma" at one of several partner schools, depending on the school, field of study, and degree type. Furthermore, the École is one of the founding members of the TIME (Top Industrial Managers for Europe) network. (Member List)
[edit] Research
The ECP hosts eight laboratories:
- Molecular and Macroscopic Energy, Combustion
- System's Analysis and Macroeconomics Modeling
- Industrial Engineering
- Chemical Engineering and Materials Processing Laboratory
- Applied Mathematics
- Soil and Structure Mechanics
- Technology and Strategy
- Solids Structure and Properties
[edit] The graduate school
In addition to the centralien training, the Ecole Centrale Paris offers a broad range of master's programs in science and engineering (1 year- or 2 year-programs). These programs are opened to applicants having completed their undergraduate studies at other institutions.
The ECP also has a Ph.D. program for students with a master's level. More than 200 doctoral candidates work in one of the 8 laboratories of the school.
[edit] Alumni
They include:
- Gustave Eiffel (1855), engineer and architect, famous for the Eiffel tower in Paris
- William Le Baron Jenney (1856), architect of the first Chicago building
- Georges Leclanché (1860), created the Leclanché cell
- Emile Levassor and Rene Panhard (1864), founders of the first automobile manufacturing company, Panhard et Levassor
- André Michelin (1877), founder of Michelin
- Louis Blériot (1895), aviation pioneer, first pilot to cross the Channel
- Armand Peugeot (1895), founder of automobile maker Peugeot (Peugeot PSA)
- Pierre-Georges Latécoère (1906), aeronautics pioneer, founder of Latécoère and L'Aéropostale (one of the founding companies of Air France)
- Marcel Schlumberger (1907), co-founder of Schlumberger Limited
- Boris Vian (1942), writer
- Mehdi Bazargan, former Iranian Prime Minister
- Francis Bouygues (1947), founder of Bouygues
- Gérard Pélisson (1955), founder of the Accor group (Novotel, Sofitel, Mercure, and All Seasons hotels)
- Robert Peugeot, Peugeot holding president as of 2005
- Antoine (1966), singer
- Henri Gouraud (1967), computer scientist
- Benoît Potier (1979), CEO of Air Liquide
- Édouard Michelin (1987), CEO of Michelin
- Charles Beigbeder (1988), CEO of Poweo (See profile on AXA Talents website)
- François Goulard, French minister for research (in 2006)
[edit] Notable lecturers
They include:
- Eugène Péclet, physicist, gave his name to the Péclet number
- Jean Baptiste Dumas, chemist
- Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis, gave his name to the Coriolis effect
- Jean-Daniel Colladon, Swiss engineer and physicist
- Anselme Payen, chemist, discovered the first enzyme
- Mathematicians Emile Picard, Paul Appell and Jacques Hadamard
- Raymond Barre (Vice-president of the European Commission in the 1960s and French prime minister in the 1970s) was professor of economics in the 1960s
- Sébastien Candel, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics fellow
[edit] External links
- English official website
- TIME association Network
- Alumni Association Website (in French)
- "Understanding the Grandes Ecoles"
- A detailed explanation on the admission process for the centralien curriculum on Stanford University's website
