École centrale Paris

Infobox University
name = Ecole Centrale Paris


motto = "To train leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators"
president = Hervé Biausser
type = Public, Grand établissement
established = 1829
city = Châtenay-Malabry
country = France
students = 1,394
affiliations=Centrale Graduate School
website = http://www.ecp.fr

École Centrale Paris is a renowned French university-level institution ("Grande Ecole") in the field of engineering. It is also known by its original name "École centrale des arts et manufactures", or "ECP". Founded in 1829, it is one of the oldest and most prestigious engineering schools in France and has the special status of Grand établissement. École Centrale Paris offers graduate degree programs as well as PhD opportunities.

École Centrale Paris is one of the Centrale Graduate Schools associated as the Intergroupe des écoles centrales network with its sister institutions (Lyon, Lille, Nantes, Marseille, and Beijing).

It was the founder in 1988 of the TIME (Top Industrial Managers for Europe) network, which allows for student exchanges between leading European engineering schools. It also belongs to CESAER, an association of European engineering schools.

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.

History

The École was founded in 1829 on a private initiative by Alphonse Lavallée, who was its first president, and three associates: Eugène Peclet, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Printonly/Olivier.html 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 neighbours the Parc de Sceaux.

Former location of the École centrale, rue Montgolfier in Paris (3rd arrondissement)

The "Centralien" Programme

The "centralien" Program is the original and main programme offered by the École. It is quite different from typical university or college studies; and specific to the French system of Grandes écoles. Studies go beyond the undergraduate level and the engineering degree of École centrale Paris ("Ingénieur centralien" or “centralien engineer”) is equivalent to a Master of Science. The curriculum is similar to those offered at other French Grandes écoles, such as École Polytechnique, École des Mines de Paris, École Supérieure d'Électricité ("Supélec"), or École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées.

The class of 2008 is about 450 students.

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 years at US universities). At the end of the second year (“Mathématiques spéciales”) students can take a nation-wide competitive entrance examination for the Grandes écoles, including École centrale Paris. The ECP recruits among the top 6% of the students in "classes préparatoires", which makes it a selective and prestigious institution. A few students come from French universities after completing three 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).

Curriculum

Education at the ECP is multidisciplinary and typically lasts three to four years. During the first year ("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 this year of “Tronc commun”, students choose all their course in a list respecting expectations from the administration. An excellent level in sciences in required. Then in third year, student a 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 “ingénieur centralien”.

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, 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. ( [http://www.ecp.fr/en/D_international/D5_universites_partenaires/D5a_liste.htm Member List] )

Research

The ECP hosts eight laboratories:
* [http://www.em2c.ecp.fr Molecular and Macroscopic Energy, Combustion]
* [http://www.erasme.ecp.fr System's Analysis and Macroeconomics Modeling]
* [http://www.lgi.ecp.fr Industrial Engineering]
* [http://www.lgpm.ecp.fr Chemical Engineering and Materials Processing Laboratory]
* [http://www.mas.ecp.fr Applied Mathematics]
* [http://www.mssmat.ecp.fr Soil and Structure Mechanics]
* [http://www.st.ecp.fr Technology and Strategy]
* [http://www.spms.ecp.fr Solids Structure and Properties]

The graduate school

In addition to the "centralien" training, the "École centrale Paris" offers a broad range of master's programs in science and engineering (1 year- or 2 year-programs). These programmes are opened to applicants having completed their undergraduate studies at other institutions.

[http://www.ecp.fr/en/B_formations/B4_masteres/B4a_masteres.htm MS programs at ECP]

The ECP also has a Ph.D. programme for students with a master's level. More than 200 doctoral candidates work in one of the 8 laboratories of the school.

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
*Émile Levassor and René 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)
*Solomon Lefschetz, American mathematician (1905)
*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
*Etienne Oehmichen, pioneer of helicopters (1908)
*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)
* Guy Lebègue (1962), inventor of the Spacebus name
*Robert Peugeot, Peugeot holding president as of 2005
* Antoine (1966), singer
*Henri Gouraud (1967), computer scientist
*Benoît Potier (1979), CEO of Air Liquide
*Bernard Liautaud (1984), founder of Business Objects
*Édouard Michelin (1987), former CEO of Michelin
*Driss Ben-Brahim (1987), trader in London expected to have received the largest bonus in the City's history
*Charles Beigbeder (1988), CEO of Poweo ( [http://www.axa-im-talents.com/index.cfm?pagepath=Entrepreneurs See profile on AXA Talents website] )
*François Goulard, French minister for research (in 2006)

Notable faculty

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 Émile 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

External links

* [http://www.ecp.fr/index_html_en English official website]
* [https://www.time-association.org/ TIME association Network]
* [http://www.centraliens.net/ Alumni Association Website (in French)]
* [http://www.understandfrance.org/France/Education.html#ancre104317 "Understanding the Grandes écoles"]
* [http://www-ee.stanford.edu/ecole-centrale/program/ecp/system.html A detailed explanation on the admission process for the "centralien" curriculum on Stanford University's website]

See also

* Grands établissements
* Education in France
* Grandes écoles