The École Polytechnique (commonly known as Polytechnique or, in France, by the nickname X) is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris.
The Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate[2] Master's program.[3] Called the Ingénieur Polytechnicien (polytechnic engineer) program, this attracts the strongest students from the two-year post-secondary-school science and math preparatory programs for the grandes écoles, provides those who pass the famously selective entrance exam with a broad scientific education,[4] and opens the way for many of them to careers in positions of influence in government, industry, finance, and research. In addition to the 2000 polytechnic engineer students (of which only 1000 study on campus), there are 200 students pursuing two-year[5] Master's degrees and 500 doctoral students, for a relatively small total enrollment of 2700.
The Polytechnique was established during the French Revolution[6] in 1794 by Gaspard Monge, and it became a military school under Napoleon in 1804. It is still under the control of the French Ministry of Defence today. Initially, the school was located in the Latin Quarter of central Paris, and it moved to Palaiseau on the Saclay Plateau about 14 km (8.7 mi) southwest of Paris in 1976.[7] It is a founding member of the ParisTech grouping of leading Paris-area engineering schools, established in 2007.
The Polytechnique is one of the grandes écoles that have traditionally prepared technocrats to lead French government and industry, and has been one of the most privileged routes into the elite divisions of the civil service known as the grands corps de l'état. This role is evolving. Since 1995, Polytechnique has admitted a significant number[8] of international applicants to its polytechnic engineer program,[9] and 20% of each cohort are now foreign students.[10] The portion of graduates pursuing further university education, such as a second Master's degree or a doctorate, rather than entering the French civil service, has been growing in recent years to over 30%.[citation needed]
The cadets of
Polytechnique rushed to the
defence of Paris against the foreign armies in 1814. A statue set in the honour courtyard of the school commemorates this deed. A copy was installed in
West Point.
The École has more than 200 years of tradition:[11]
- 1794: The École centrale des travaux publics is founded by Lazare Carnot and Gaspard Monge, during the French Revolution, at the time of the National Convention. It is renamed "École Polytechnique" one year later.
- 1805: Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte settles the École on Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, in the Quartier Latin, in central Paris (48°50′52″N 2°20′57″E / 48.847747°N 2.349043°E / 48.847747; 2.349043 (1805 location)), as a military academy and gives its motto Pour la Patrie, les Sciences et la Gloire (For the Nation, science and glory).
- 1814: Students took part in the fights to defend Paris from the Sixth Coalition.
- 1830: Fifty students participated the July Revolution.
- 1914–1918: Students are mobilised and the school is transformed into a hospital. More than two hundred students were killed during the war.
- 1939–1945: Polytechnique is moved away to Lyon in the free zone. More than four hundred polytechnicians died for France during the Second World War (Free French, French Resistance, Nazi camps).
- 1970: The École becomes a state supported civilian institution, under the auspice of the Ministry of Defence.
- 1972: Women are admitted to Polytechnique for the first time.
- 1976: The École moves from Paris to Palaiseau (approx 25 km / 15 miles from Paris)
- 1985: The École starts delivering Ph.D. degrees.
- 1994: Celebration of the bicentennial chaired by President François Mitterrand
- 2000: A new cursus is set in place, passing to 4 years and reforming the polytechnicien curriculum
- 2005: The École starts delivering Master's degrees.
- 2007: The École is a founding member of UniverSud Paris and ParisTech.
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The Arms of the École polytechnique
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The main hall seen from the lake
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Historical entrance of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris at the junction of the rue de la Montagne Saint-Genevieve and rue Descartes
In 1794, Polytechnique was initially hosted in the Palais Bourbon. One year later, it moved to Hôtel de Lassay, an hôtel particulier in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.
Polytechnique is a higher education establishment[12] run under the supervision of the French ministry of Defence, through the General Delegation for Ordnance[13] (administratively speaking, it is a national public establishment of an administrative character).
Though no longer a military academy, it is headed by a general, and employs military personnel in executive, administrative and sport training positions.[14] Both male and female French undergraduate polytechniciens are regular officers[15] and have to go through a period of military training before the start of studies.[16][17]
However, the military aspects of the school have lessened with time, with a reduced period of preliminary military training, and fewer and fewer students pursuing careers as military officers after leaving the school. On special occasions, such as the military parade on the Champs-Élysées on Bastille Day, the polytechniciens wear the 19th-century-style “grand uniform”, with the famous bicorne, or cocked hat, but students have not typically worn a uniform on campus since the elimination of the “internal uniform” in the mid-1980s.
Polytechnique has a combined undergraduate-graduate general engineering teaching curriculum as well as a graduate school. In addition to the faculty coming from its local laboratories, it employs many researchers and professors from other institutions, including other CNRS, INRIA and CEA laboratories as well as the École Normale Supérieure and nearby institutions such as the École Supérieure d'Électricité (Supélec), the Institut d'Optique or the Université Paris-Sud, creating a varied and high-level teaching environment.[18]
Contrary to French public universities, the teaching staff at Polytechnique are not civil servants (fonctionnaires)[19] but contract employees operating under regulations different from those governing university professors. An originality of Polytechnique is that in addition to full-time teaching staff (exercice complet), who do research at the École in addition to a full teaching service, there are partial-time teaching staff (exercice incomplet) who do not do research on behalf of the École and carry only a partial teaching load.[20] Part-time teaching staff are often recruited from research institutions (CNRS, CEA, INRIA...) operating inside the École campus, in the Paris region, or even sometimes elsewhere in France.
Benoît Mandelbrot during his speech at the ceremony when he was made an officer of the Legion of Honour on September 11, 2006, at the École polytechnique
[edit] The Polytechnicien studies
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The mission of the Ecole Polytechnique is to train students capable of devising and achieving complex and innovative projects at the highest level possible, thanks to a strong pluriscientific culture. Our 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.[21] |
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The Polytechnicien program is broader than typical French university studies, often including topics beyond one's specialty. This focus on breadth rather than depth has been hotly debated over the years, but it nevertheless forms a characteristic of the Polytechnicien program. It is particularly useful for cross fertilization purposes between different fields, as graduates from Polytechnique most often have abilities in several disciplines; for example, they must follow at least six different topics during their second year. Humanities and sports are also mandatory parts of the curriculum, adding to the differences with most French university programs.
The admission to Polytechnique in the polytechnicien cycle is made through a very selective entrance examination, and requires at least two years of preparation after high school in classes préparatoires. Admission includes a week of written examinations during the spring followed by oral examinations that are handled in batches (séries) over the summer.[22]
About 400 French students are admitted each year. Foreign students, having followed a classe préparatoire curriculum (generally, French residents or students from former French colonies in Africa) can also enter through the same competitive exam (they are known as “EV1”). Foreign students can also apply through a “second track” (“EV2”) following undergraduate studies. In total, there are about 100 foreign students each year and 64 nationalities are represented.[23] Most of them come from Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, China, Vietnam, Iran, Romania, Turkey and Russia, India but some also from Canada, Cuba, Singapore, Malaysia and the United States. Finally, some foreign students come for a single year from other top institutions in Europe and the United States.[24]
Four years of study are required for the engineering degree:[25] one year of military service and scientific "common trunk" (respectively 8 months and 4 months), one year of multidisciplinary studies, and one year of specialized studies (“majors”). With the X2000 reform, a fourth year of studies, in another institution than Polytechnique, was introduced.
- First year
The curriculum begins with 8 months during which French students undergo civilian or military service. In the past, military service lasted 12 months and was compulsory for all French students; the suppression of the draft in France made this requirement of Polytechnique somewhat anachronistic, and the service was recast as a period of “human and military formation”. All the French students spend one month together in La Courtine in a military training center. By the end of this month, they are assigned either to a civilian service or to the Army, Navy, Air Force or Gendarmerie. Students who are assigned to a military service complete a two-month military training in French officer schools such as Saint-Cyr or École Navale. Finally, they are spread out over a wide range of units for a five month long assignment to a French military unit (which can include, but is not limited to, infantry and artillery regiments, naval ships and air bases).[26] While French students stay under military status during their studies at Polytechnique, and participate in a variety of ceremonies and other military events, for example national ceremonies, such as those of Bastille Day or anniversaries of the armistices of the World Wars, they do not undergo military training per se after having completed their service in the first year.[26] They receive at the end of the first year the full dress uniform, which comprises black trousers with a red strip (a skirt for females), a coat with brass buttons and a belt, a small sword and a cocked hat (officially called a bicorne).
Francophone foreign students do a civilian service. Civilian service can, for instance, consist of being an assistant in a high school in a disadvantaged French suburb.
Then, a four-month period begins in which all students take the same five courses: Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science and Economics.
- Second year
The second year is a year of pluridisciplinary studies. The set of disciplines spans most areas of science (mathematics, applied mathematics, mechanics, computing science, biology, physics, chemistry, economics) and some areas in the humanities (foreign languages, general humanities...). Students have to choose 8 courses in at least 6 different disciplines.
- Third year
In the third year, students have to choose an in-depth program (programme d'approfondissement), which often focuses on a discipline or sometimes an interdisciplinary subject. This year is ended by a research internship (3 months to 5 months).
- Fourth year
The fourth year is the beginning of more specialized studies: students not entering a Corps de l'État must join either a Master's program, a doctorate program, another ParisTech college or institute such as the École des Mines de Paris or ENSAE, or a specialization institute such as Supaéro in Toulouse or ENSPM in Rueil-Malmaison. The reason for this is that the generic education given at Polytechnique is more focused on developing thinking skills than preparing for the transition to an actual engineering occupation, which requires further technical education. Increasingly, students chose to spend their fourth year studying in a foreign university. About a quarter of 3rd year students chose this path in 2008. American universities are a favourite, but the Ecole Polytechnique has agreements with universities in a large set of countries.
Grades of the second year of the curriculum are used to rank the students. Traditionally, this exit ranking of the school had a very high importance, and some peculiarities of the organizations of studies and grading can be traced to the need for a fair playing ground between students.
For French nationals, the ranking is actually part of a government recruitment program: a certain number of seats in civil or military Corps, including elite civil servant Corps such as the Corps des Mines, are open to the student body each year. At some point during their course of study, students specify a list of Corps that they would like to enter in order of preference, and they are enrolled into the highest one according to their ranking. The next stepping stone for Polytechnique graduates, or polytechniciens, on this path is to enter one of four technical civil service training schools: the École des Mines, the École des Ponts et Chaussées, the ENST, or the ENSAE, thus joining one of the civil service bodies known as the grands corps techniques de l'État. Those who pursue this path are known as X-Mines, X-Ponts, X-Télécoms and X-INSEE, respectively, with the X prefix, for Polytechnique, identifying them as particularly elite members of their corps.
Since the X2000 reform, the importance of the ranking has lessened. Except for the Corps curricula, universities and schools where the Polytechniciens complete their educations now base their acceptance decisions on transcripts of all grades.
For French nationals, tuition is free as long as the full curriculum is completed, and a salary is received throughout the school years at the level of a reserve officer in training. French students, through the student board (Caisse des élèves or Kès), redistribute some of their salary to foreign students, most of whom also benefit from grants.
There is no particular financial obligation for students following the curriculum, and then entering an application school or graduate program that Polytechnique approves of. However, French students who choose to enter a civilian or military corps after Polytechnique are expected to complete 10 years of public service following their admission to the school (i.e. their 3 years at school count towards their time of service). If a student enters a Corps but does not fulfill those 10 years of public service (e.g. resigns from his or her Corps), the tuition fees are due to the school. Sometimes, when an alumnus quits a Corps to join a private company, that company will pay for the tuition fees which are then called the pantoufle (slipper).
Polytechnique organizes various Master's programs, by itself or in association with other schools and universities (in the Paris region, École Normale Supérieure, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris VI, École Supérieure d'Électricité (Supélec), other member institutions of ParisTech, Toulouse area and foreign partner universities) on a wide variety of topics. Access to those programs is not restricted to polytechniciens, although they are invited to join them and they make up one half of the students. The following Master's programmes are offered:
- Applied Mathematics (Mathematics and Modelling – Probability Theory and Finance – Probability Theory and Aleatory Models)
- Chemistry (Molecular Chemistry)
- Complex Information Systems (Design and Management of Complex Information Systems)
- Computer Science (Fundamental Computer Science)
- Economics (Quantitative Economics & Finance [M1] – Economic Analysis and Policy – Economics of Energy, Environment, Sustainable Development - Economics of Markets and Organizations)
- Mathematics (Analysis, Arithmetic and Geometry)
- Mechanics (Materials and Structural Mechanics - Sustainable building Materials – Fluid Mechanics: fundamentals and applications – Oceans, Atmosphere, Climate, Space Observations)
- Molecular and Cellular Biology (Structural and Functional Engineering of Biomolecules)
- Physics and Applications (Fundamental Concepts in Physics: Theoretical, Quantum, Solid State, Liquid & Soft Matter Physics - Optics, Matter and Plasmas – Materials Science and Nano-Objects – Fusion Sciences - Quantum Devices - Nanosciences - High Energy Physics)
- Sciences, Technologies, Society (Project, Innovation, Conception – Network Industry and Digital Economy - LoPHiSS/Science of Cognition & Complex Systems)
and Polytechnique takes part in two degrees awarded by ParisTech:
- Nuclear Energy
- Transportation and Sustainable Development: Master ParisTech – Fondation Renault
About 50% of Master's students come from abroad.
The school also has a doctoral program open to students with a master's degree or equivalent.[27] Doctoral students generally work in the laboratories of the school; they may also work in external institutes or establishments that cannot, or will not, grant doctorates.
About 35% of doctoral students come from abroad.
In international rankings, Polytechnique is often placed among the best universities of the world.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities, also known as the Shanghai Rankings, places Polytechnique in 2010 at 201-300 worldwide, and 8-13 in France.
The THE-QS World University Rankings and its successor QS World University Rankings[28] (From 2010 two separate rankings are produced by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings) have placed Polytechnique 36th in the 2011 rankings, #2 among French institutions, behind École Normale Supérieure.
| Year |
Rank (Change) |
| 2005 |
10 |
| 2006 |
37 ( 27) |
| 2007 |
28 ( 9) |
| 2008 |
34 ( 6) |
| 2009 |
36 ( 2) |
| 2010 |
36 ( 0) |
The Polytechnique ranking in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings is 39th in 2011 and #1 among French institutions.[29]
The International Professional Ranking of Higher Education Institutions, published by the École des Mines de Paris, which looks at the education of the Fortune 500 CEOs, ranks Polytechnique 7th in the world in its 2011 ranking (1st being Harvard University), #2 among French institutions behind HEC Paris.[30]
| Year |
Rank (Change) |
| 2007 |
4 ( 0) |
| 2008 |
15 ( 11) |
| 2009 |
14 ( 1) |
| 2010 |
12 ( 2) |
| 2011 |
7 ( 5) |
Polytechnique is known for its extremely competitive entrance exam.[31] It is the most selective French engineering school.[32] In rankings by French newspapers, Polytechnique almost always secures first place among French institutions.[33] According to salary surveys its graduates are among the highest paid of all French graduates.[34]
It has many research laboratories operating in various scientific fields (physics, mathematics, computer science, economics, chemistry, biology, etc.), most operated in association with national scientific institutions such as CNRS, CEA, or also INRIA.
Dorms at École Polytechnique in Palaiseau.
Many Polytechnique graduates occupy prominent positions in government, industry, and research in France. Among its alumni are two Nobel prizes winners, three Presidents of France and many CEOs of French and international companies. Of the fifty most important and best-performing corporate enterprises in France, nearly half are headed by a Polytechnicien.[35]
- ^ a b c d "About Ecole Polytechnique". École Polytechnique. http://www.polytechnique.edu/home/about-ecole-polytechnique/.
- ^ The brochures available for download from Polytechnique's English language web page on its Ingénieur Polytechnicien program (retrieved 2010-09-23) describe the second year of studies as being at an advanced undergraduate level, the third and fourth years as at the graduate level.
- ^ The brochures available for download from Polytechnique's English language web page on its Ingénieur Polytechnicien program (retrieved 2010-09-23) explain that the Ingénieur de l’École Polytechnique degree offered after the third year and the Diplôme de l’École Polytechnique offered after the fourth year are both Master's degrees.
- ^ Description of the Ingénieur Polytechnicien program drawn from the school's website [1] (retrieved 2010-04-03).
- ^ Polytechnique's English language web page on its non-Ingénieur Polytechnicien Master's programs mentions that they are two year programs.
- ^ Michel Nusimovici, Les écoles de l'an III, 2010.
- ^ Dates retrieved from the school's website [2] 2004-04-03.
- ^ Prior to 1985, the number of foreign students was quite limited. See: "Anousheh Karvar. L’École polytechnique et l’international: un bilan historique" retrieved 2011-03-31 from SABIX website [3].
- ^ "1995: A new competitive entrance exam route was opened to foreigners", retrieved 2010-04-05 from the school's website [4].
- ^ 20% of the students in the polytechnic engineer program are “international”, i.e., foreign [5].
- ^ A brief History of the Ecole Polytechnique, official web site
- ^ Code de l'éducation, L675-1
- ^ Arrêté du 12 septembre 2005 relatif à l'exercice de la tutelle du ministre de la défense sur divers organismes publics confiés à la délégation générale pour l'armement, article 1
- ^ Décret n°96-1124 du 20 décembre 1996 relatif à l'organisation et au régime administratif et financier de l'Ecole polytechnique
- ^ Décret n° 2008-960 du 12 septembre 2008 fixant certaines dispositions d'ordre statutaire applicables aux élèves français de l'Ecole polytechnique
- ^ First Period : General Education, web site
- ^ Arrêté du 14 août 2001 relatif à la formation militaire et à la formation à l'exercice des responsabilités des élèves français de l'Ecole polytechnique prévues à l'article 2 du décret n° 2000-900 du 14 septembre 2000 fixant certaines dispositions d'ordre statutaire applicables aux élèves français de l'Ecole polytechnique
- ^ Partners, official web site
- ^ Décret 87-16 du 14 janvier 1987: by exception to the general rule that staff in public establishments of an administrative character are civil servants, the teaching staff of Polytechnique is hired on contracts.
- ^ Décret n°2000-497 du 5 juin 2000 fixant les dispositions applicables aux personnels enseignants de l'Ecole polytechnique
- ^ “Welcome”, the Polytechnique web site
- ^ The French 'Grandes Ecoles', École Poytechnique web site
- ^ http://www.polytechnique.edu/accueil/relations-internationales/une-ecole-internationale/
- ^ International Exchange Program
- ^ Ingénieur Polytechnicien Program, an English-language page from the school's website, describing the engineering degree.
- ^ a b “Ingenieur Polytechnicien”PDF (5.79 MB) p. 74
- ^ Admission École Polytechnique web site
- ^ http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2011
- ^ http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/top-200.html
- ^ http://www.mines-paristech.fr/Actualites/PR/EMP-ranking.html
- ^ Clark, Burton R. (1993). The Research foundations of graduate education: Germany, Britain, France, United States, Japan. University of California Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-520-07997-7.
- ^ The École Polytechnique has the smallest resignation rate among French Grandes Écoles. Statistics of the entrance exam
- ^ ranking, official web site
- ^ for example, ranking from L'Expansion
- ^ Polytechniciens in today's society, official web site
- Clark, Burton R. (1993). The Research Foundations of Graduate Education: Germany, Britain, France, United States, Japan. University of California Press. pp. 412. ISBN 978-0-520-07997-7. http://books.google.de/books?id=o_bnKr1RDcgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Research+Foundations+of+Graduate+Education:+Germany,+Britain,+France,+United+States,+Japan,#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- Gillispie, Charles C. (2004). Science and Polity in France, the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Years. Princeton Universitv Press. ISBN 978-0-691-11541-2.
- Grattan-Guinness, Ivor (Mar., 2005). "The "Ecole Polytechnique", 1794-1850: Differences over Educational Purpose and Teaching Practice". The American Mathematical Monthly (Published by: Mathematical Association of America) 112 (3): pp. 233-250. JSTOR 30037440.
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