École centrale Paris

École Centrale Paris
Motto	To train leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators
Established	1829
Type	Public, Grand établissement
President	Hervé Biausser
Students	1,394
Location	Châtenay-Malabry, France
Affiliations	UniverSud Paris, Centrale Graduate School
Website	http://www.ecp.fr

École Centrale Paris is a French university-level institution (grande école) 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 Groupe Centrale network with its sister institutions (Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Beijing).

It was the founding party in 1988 of the TIME (Top Industrial Managers for Europe) network, that enables student exchanges among leading European engineering schools. It is also a member of the UniverSud Paris and the CESAER association of European engineering schools.

The school, reputed for its international orientation, has partnerships with the best universities all over the world, such as Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Seoul National University, and University of Peking

Location

École Centrale Paris is located in Châtenay-Malabry, Hauts-de-Seine, a southern suburb of Paris, France (in the Île-de-France region), 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 became its first president, and three scientist associates: Eugène Peclet, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and Théodore Olivier. The founding vision was to educate multidisciplinary engineers for the emerging industrial sector. The institution was offered 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)

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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.

According to the magazine L'Etudiant, the ECP is ranked 2nd in the top-list of French engineering schools, ahead of more than 200.

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 Math and Physics (freshman and sophomore 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, who represent themselves 4% of higher education students, which makes it a selective and prestigious institution. A few students come from French top 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 is required. Then in the third year, students chose 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 with several world-renowned universities.

Students come from around the world to study for several years on the school campus. École Centrale students may also obtain a “double degree” at one of the 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.

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

The graduate school

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

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

Gustave Eiffel, designed the Eiffel Tower and the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty in New-York

See also: Category:Alumni of the École Centrale Paris

They include:

• Gustave Eiffel (1855), designer of the Eiffel Tower and the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty
• 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
• Charbel Farhat (1983), professor at Stanford University
• Bernard Liautaud (1984), founder of Business Objects
• Édouard Michelin (born 1963) (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
• François Goulard (1976), French delegate minister for research (2005–2007)
• Justin Ndioro (1972), former Cameroonian Minister of Finances (1993-1996)<Cameroon-Tribune.cm>
• Fabrice Tourre (2000), the Fabulous Fab

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 Joseph Liouville, 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, foreign member of the American National Academy of Engineering and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics fellow

External links

• English official website
• TIME association Network
• Alumni Association Website (in French)
• "Understanding the Grandes écoles"
• 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