Supélec
Encyclopedia
École Supérieure d'Électricité, commonly known as Supélec, is a French Graduate School of Engineering delivering the equivalent of a Master's Degree as well as Ph.D opportunities. It is one of the most prestigious and selective Grandes Ecoles
Grandes écoles
The grandes écoles of France are higher education establishments outside the main framework of the French university system. The grandes écoles select students for admission based chiefly on national ranking in competitive written and oral exams...

 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, and a reference in the field of electric energy and information sciences. With 460 graduates a year, Supélec ranks among the best Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the top American or European universities.

Founded in 1894 and initially located in the 15th district of Paris, it was moved to Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette is a commune in the south-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:The town is crossed by and named after the Yvette river.The total area is and is green spaces and woods.-Place names:...

 in 1975. Since then, two more campuses were established in Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...

 in 1972 and Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

 in 1985. It is a member of Top Industrial Managers for Europe
Top Industrial Managers for Europe
Top Industrial Managers for Europe is a network of more than fifty engineering schools and faculties and technical universities....

 (TIME) network. It is also a member of the CESAER Association
CESAER Association
The Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research is a non-profit association of leading engineering universities in Europe. CESAER was set up on May 10, 1990, with headquarters in Leuven, Belgium...

 and n+i Engineering Studies.

History

Supélec was founded in 1894 by Eleuthère Mascart
Éleuthère Mascart
Éleuthère Élie Nicolas Mascart was a noted French physicist, a researcher in optics and electricity.Mascart was born in Quarouble, Nord. He attended the École normale supérieure...

, elected: Perpetual Member and Secretary of the Académie des Sciences and Foreign Member of the British Royal Society, Professor at the Collège de France, won the Bordin Prize in 1866 and the Grand prix de l'Académie des sciences in 1874.

Since 2004, the Director of Supélec has been Alain Bravo
Alain Bravo
Alain Bravo is a French electrical engineer and entrepreneur. His accomplishments include founding one of France's leading mobile phone services, Société Française de Radiotéléphonie , and he is currently the president of Abhexis and the managing director of Supélec, one of France's top five...

.

The historical goal of Supélec was to educate engineers for the then booming electrical industry.

Location

Supélec was originally based in Rue de Staël, 15th district of Paris. Then it moved to Malakoff
Malakoff
Malakoff is a suburban commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department southwest of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of the city.-History:The commune of Malakoff was created on 8 November 1883 by detaching its territory from the commune of Vanves...

, close to Porte de Vanves and to Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette
Gif-sur-Yvette is a commune in the south-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:The town is crossed by and named after the Yvette river.The total area is and is green spaces and woods.-Place names:...

 in 1975 where the main campus is currently located. A second campus was established in Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...

 in 1972 and a third one in Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

 in 1985.

Demographics

The student body consists of 1,975 graduate students spread on Supélec's three campuses, and 780 full-time and part-time faculty (October 2009). As is historically true of engineering institutions, female enrollment at Supélec is low, with about thrice as many male students as females. However, this is slowly changing due to the school's outreach programs to encourage more female high school students to consider careers in science and engineering. These include the "Ingénieure: un avenir au féminin" program. In 2008, 25% of graduates were foreign students, coming from 22 countries.

Funding

Supélec is a private non-profit institution (Association loi 1901
Voluntary association
A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body to accomplish a purpose.Strictly speaking, in many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association...

) under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education
Minister of National Education (France)
The Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sport , or simply "Minister of National Education," as the title has changed no small number of times in the course of the Fifth Republic) is the French government cabinet member charged with running France's public educational system and with the...

 and the Ministry of Industry. In 2008, Supélec's revenue amounted to €35 million, with 48% of that amount from the state, 24% from research contracts and 5% from tuition and fees. About 25% of the school's expenses went to research (€8.6 million) and 68% to faculty and staff.

Rankings

Supélec is consistently ranked well; it has remained in the top 5 engineering schools in France. In 2010, L'Etudiant ranked Supélec 4th engineering school in France, and according to salary surveys its graduates are among the highest paid of all French graduates.

Curriculum

Education at Supélec is multidipliscinary and typically lasts three to four years. During the first two years, students are required to take classes in science (statistics, probability, quantum mechanics, ...), in engineering (computer programming, signal processing, ...) and in social sciences (economics, foreign languages, ...), and can choose elective classes as numerous as varied (arts, supraconductivity, sustainable development, finance, biology, psychology, ...). For their third year, students choose a major in a specific field among fifteen for half the course, and the second half is devoted to research and development activities in the form of laboratory studies, project work, industrial research contracts.

Students are also warmly encouraged to spend at least six months abroad in one of Supélec's 70 partner universities, or they can spend two years abroad instead of their third year at Supélec and graduate from both Supélec and the partner university. In 2008, 40% of graduates have obtained double degrees.
Supelec has students accepted on the best University and Engineering School in the US ( MIT, Columbia , GeorgiaTech ) and in UK ( Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial College, UCL ).
Supelec Alumni are working in a lot of different fields ( engineering , finance , consulting ).
Supelec has more and more students working in Quantitative Finance ( Trading , Structuring , Quant , IT ).

Admission

The admission as first year student to Supélec is generally 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 Spring, followed by oral examinations which are handled in batches spanning over Summer, and is done in common with the Centrale Graduate School
Centrale Graduate School
The Centrale Graduate School is an alliance consisting of the following graduate schools of engineering:* École centrale Paris established in 1829* École centrale de Lille established in 1854* École centrale de Lyon established in 1857...

. About 10% of graduates were admitted after obtaining a three-year degree in a French university, 25% are foreign students within the framework of international exchange programs.

Research

Supélec is profoundly involved in research; it is one of the only three institutions in France with ENS Ulm
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...

 and Ecole polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...

 to be a member of two Advanced Research Thematic Networks (Réseaux thématiques de recherché avancée, RTRA) – research associations grouping private or public research institutions and private companies working together on specific research fields.

The school carries out both academic and industrial research, especially for the education of its students through partnership with companies (research contracts), in 14 laboratories and research departments.

Supélec has its own research teams and mixed units with CNRS and partner universities. Supélec is also involved in 5 doctoral schools with its partner universities (Paris Sud, Rennes 1, Nancy 1, Nancy 2, Metz).

In 2007, Supélec obtained along with Centrale Paris the label Carnot, a label of excellence awarded by ‘’Agence nationale de la recherche’’ (National Agency for Research) to research institutions in France and intended to finance research
Research funding
Research funding is a term generally covering any funding for scientific research, in the areas of both "hard" science and technology and social science. The term often connotes funding obtained through a competitive process, in which potential research projects are evaluated and only the most...

.

In 2008, €8.6 million where invested in research, €6 million of which came from research contracts with 122 partner companies and institutions.

Industry connections

Partnerships with the industry have always been a priority. In 1986, Supélec founded the Teaching and Research Partnership in Cooperation with Business (PERCI&S), a network of privileged companies, in order to widen the openings to graduates and to develop research involving students. Members of PERCI include Accenture
Accenture
Accenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 236,000 employees across...

, Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent is a global telecommunications corporation, headquartered in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France. It provides telecommunications solutions to service providers, enterprises, and governments around the world, enabling these customers to deliver voice, data, and video services...

, Areva
Areva
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie, Paris. AREVA is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has interests in other energy projects. It was created on 3 September 2001, by the merger of Framatome , Cogema and...

, EADS
EADS
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...

, Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

, BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas S.A. is a global banking group, headquartered in Paris, with its second global headquarters in London. In October 2010 BNP Paribas was ranked by Bloomberg and Forbes as the largest bank and largest company in the world by assets with over $3.1 trillion. It was formed through the merger...

, Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...

, EDF
Électricité de France
Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...

, Capgemini
Capgemini
Capgemini is a French global IT services company, one of the world's largest management consulting, outsourcing and professional services companies with a staff of 114,274 operating in 40 countries. It is headquartered in Paris and was founded in 1967 by Serge Kampf, the current chairman, in...

, among 36 companies in total.

The implication of the students in the industry is stressed, as they are required to complete at least 3 hands-on internships during their three years of studies, one of which is a 5-month-long project work or industrial research contract in a company.

Every year in early December, a job fair is held at Supélec Gif-sur-Yvette campus and managed by Forum Supélec, a student society
Student society
A student society or student organization is an organization, operated by students at a university, whose membership normally consists only of students. They are often affiliated with a university's students' union...

.

Partnership agreements with other institutions

Centrale Paris and Supélec signed an outline agreement in 2005 in order to mutualize third year majors. Both of the schools already enrolled students at the end of Preparatory class
Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Écoles
The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles , commonly called classes prépas or prépas, are part of the French post-secondary education system. They consist in two very selective years , acting as a prep course with the main goal of training undergraduate students for enrolment in one of the...

 through a common examination; they now share a common major in Energy
Energy
In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

. Since 2005 their cooperation has been strengthened, especially in research and industrial partnerships (the awarding of the ‘’label Carnot’’ to the Centrale-Supélec-CNRS (C3S) grouping is a significant result). In 2008, they declare their partnership a strategic alliance.

Supélec students can choose to spend a non-graduating semester or graduate from one of the school’s partner universities, in France or abroad. Among them, Supélec and ESCP Europe have developed a partnership giving Supélec students the opportunity to graduate with a Master in Business. Other specialization degrees exist with IFP School
IFP School
The IFP School is a graduate engineering school located in Rueil-Malmaison, France. Founded in 1954, IFP School is part of the IFP Energies Nouvelles, French Institute of Petroleum , a French public-sector research and training center...

, or Paris-Sud 11 University
Paris-Sud 11 University
University of Paris-Sud or University of Paris-Sud or University of Paris XI is a French university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburb of Paris...

.

One of the objectives of the institution for the period 2006-2009 was to reinforce the internationalization of the school by encouraging students to spend at least a semester abroad or to do a double-degree program in one the Supélec’s foreign partner universities, and by increasing the number of foreign students at Supélec.

Agreements have been reached with other institutions of higher education whereby a number of Supélec students attend courses provided by these establishments instead of completing their third year at the school. The successful completion of these studies is a condition for obtaining the Supélec engineering degree in addition to the diploma related to the course of study in question. Agreements exist with a large number of departments in American, Australian, Canadian, Japanese and European universities. Among them, Georgia Tech, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal
École Polytechnique de Montréal
The École Polytechnique de Montréal is an engineering school/faculty affiliated with the University of Montreal in Montreal, Canada. It ranks first in Canada for the scope of its engineering research. It is occasionally referred to as Montreal Polytechnic, although in Quebec English its French...

, National University of Singapore
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore is Singapore's oldest university. It is the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curriculum offered....

, Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...

, Technische Universität München.

Supelec has agreements and exchanges with more than 70 foreign universities, in over 30 countries and runs the Top Industrial Managers for Europe
Top Industrial Managers for Europe
Top Industrial Managers for Europe is a network of more than fifty engineering schools and faculties and technical universities....

 (T.I.M.E) network and is a member of the CESAER Association
CESAER Association
The Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research is a non-profit association of leading engineering universities in Europe. CESAER was set up on May 10, 1990, with headquarters in Leuven, Belgium...

 and n+i engineering institutes. In 2008, 40% of graduates have obtained double-degrees and 35% completed their final year of study abroad.

Key Figures (2008)

Overview:
  • Revenues : €35 million
  • Alumni Association Budget : €12 million


Students:
  • 1,975 Students
  • 460 Engineering degrees
  • 6 Specialized Master programs
  • 250 Doctoral students


International:
  • 1 out of 5 graduates is international
  • Supelec has agreements and exchanges with more than 70 foreign universities, in over 30 countries
  • Supelec runs the Top Industrial Managers for Europe (T.I.M.E) network and is a member of the CESAER and n+i engineering institutes
  • 40 % of graduates have obtained double degrees
  • 25 % of graduates were foreign students, coming from 22 countries


Faculty and Staff:
  • 130 Full-time faculty
  • 650 Part-time teachers
  • 175 Administrators and staff


Research:
  • 14 laboratories and research departments
  • 465 research personnel
  • 725 major international publications and conference papers
  • 17 patents
  • 320 outgoing projects
  • 122 partner companies and institutions
  • €8.6 million in research funding

Recreation

At the Gif-sur-Yvette campus, several activities are provided by the associations:
  • The 'Bureau des Eleves' (BdE) and some other associations (Forum, Junior Entreprise, etc.) organize regularly parties or a regular basis;
  • The 'Bureau des Sports' enables students to practise sports. Since the Gif-sur-Yvette campus is equipped with soccer pitch, tennis court, gymnasium, etc., students able to play most common sports in France. Moreover, every Thursday afternoon, competitions between different French schools and universities are organized.

Housing

All the Supelec campus own housing amenities for the students.

Gif-sur-Yvette campus is composed of three types of residences:
  • Residence 1: this residence is the oldest one. Most of students living there are first-year students. Each student has his own room. Usually, two students share same restroom and bathroom; around twenty students share a same kitchen.
  • Residence 2: this residence is made up by four buildings. Each building is composed of several flats for five or six students. In each flat, there are three or four restrooms, and a large living room.
  • Residence 3: this residence is made up by flats for one person or for pairs.

Events

Every year, many events are organized by Supelec students:
  • In September, first year and many second year students take part in a WEI;
  • In October, the Gala Supelec happens;
  • In December, most famous companies participate in the Forum Supelec;
  • In January, the Campagne BdE happens;
  • Etc.

Forum Supelec

The forum Supelec is an event bringing together many famous companies: EDF, Renault, BNP Paribas, PSA, CapGemini, Accenture, Mazars, Logica, etc. This event takes place in Supelec every year, at Gif-sur-Yvette campus. It is a good opportunity for many students to find an internship.

Gif-sur-Yvette

Gif-sur-Yvette is the main and biggest campus. It is located on the Plateau du Moulon, an important site for French education. Currently, other famous French Graduate Schools are building their campus there: ENS Cachan, Ecole Centrale Paris, etc.
Many activities can be performed in the Gif-sur-Yvette campus: jogging, tennis, basketball, pool, etc.

Metz

The campus is located on the Technopole Metz 2000, next to other institutions such as Georgia Tech Lorraine
Georgia Tech Lorraine
Georgia Tech Lorraine is a campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Metz, France and plays a pivotal role in Georgia Tech's International Plan.-History:...

 and ENSAM
École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers
Arts et Métiers ParisTech is the French leading engineering school in the fields of mechanics and industrialization.The school trained 85,000 engineers since its foundation in 1780 by the Duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt....

.

Alumni

Supélec alumni include: Pierre Bézier
Pierre Bézier
Pierre Étienne Bézier was a French engineer and one of the founders of the fields of solid, geometric and physical modeling as well as in the field of representing curves, especially in CAD/CAM systems...

, Pierre Boulle
Pierre Boulle
Pierre Boulle was a French novelist largely known for two famous works, The Bridge over the River Kwai and Planet of the Apes .-Biography:...

, Thierry Breton
Thierry Breton
Thierry Breton is a French businessman and politician who is currently the CEO of the IT firm Atos. He was the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Dominique de Villepin, Jacques Chirac being the President de la...

, Louis Charles Breguet
Louis Charles Breguet
Louis Charles Breguet was a French aircraft designer and builder, one of the early aviation pioneers.- Biography :...

, Jean-Luc Lagardère
Jean-Luc Lagardère
Jean-Luc Lagardère was a major French businessman, CEO of the Lagardere Group, one of the largest French conglomerates....

, Philippe Morillon
Philippe Morillon
Philippe Morillon is a former French general and was a Member of the European Parliament until 2009. He was elected on the Union for French Democracy ticket with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group...

, Jean Deleage
Jean Deleage
Dr. Jean Deleage, Ph.D. was an early venture capital investor responsible for the founding or co-founding of three notable venture capital firms since 1971: Sofinnova, Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. and Alta Partners.-Career:...

 and Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist and acoustician of the 20th century. His innovative work in both the sciences —particularly communications and acoustics— and the various arts of music, literature and radio presentation after the end...

.

External links

Official website in English Official website in French Online alumni community Fondation Supélec Programs of the Master's Degree Course

See also

  • Education in France
    Education in France
    The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:* the primary education ;* secondary education ;...

  • Grandes Ecoles
    Grandes écoles
    The grandes écoles of France are higher education establishments outside the main framework of the French university system. The grandes écoles select students for admission based chiefly on national ranking in competitive written and oral exams...

  • Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Ecoles
    Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Écoles
    The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles , commonly called classes prépas or prépas, are part of the French post-secondary education system. They consist in two very selective years , acting as a prep course with the main goal of training undergraduate students for enrolment in one of the...

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