École nationale des ponts et chaussées

École des Ponts ParisTech
Established 1747
Type French Grande Ecole, member of ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology)
Director Philippe Courtier
Students 1,200
Undergraduates No undergraduate student
Postgraduates 1,000
Doctoral students 150
Location Paris, Champs-sur-Marne, France
Nickname Les Ponts
Affiliations ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology), Conférence des Grandes Ecoles
Website www.enpc.fr

Founded in 1747, the École nationale des ponts et chaussées (ENPC, pronounced: [ekɔl nasjɔnal dɛ pɔ̃ e ʃose]) (literally "National school of Bridges and Roads"), often referred to as les Ponts, is the world's oldest civil engineering school. It remains to this day one of the most prestigious and selective French Grandes Écoles.

It is headquartered in Marne-la-Vallée (suburb of Paris) and a member of ParisTech (Paris Institute of Technology).

Contents

History

1747-1794: Origins

Following the creation of the Corps of Bridges and Roads in 1716, the King's Council decided in 1747 to found a specific training course for the state's engineers, as École royale des ponts et chaussées. In 1775, the school took its current name as École nationale des ponts et chaussées.

The school's first director, from 1747 until 1794, was Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, engineer, civil service administrator and a contributor to the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Without lecturer, fifty students initially taught themselves geometry, algebra, mechanics and hydraulics.

1794-1945: Growth and industrialisation

During the First French Empire, a number of members of the Corps of Bridges and Roads (including Barré de Saint-Venant, Belgrand, Biot, Cauchy, Coriolis, Dupuit, Fresnel, Gay-Lussac, Navier, Vicat) took part in the reconstruction of the French road network that had not been maintained during the Revolution, and in large infrastructural developments, notably hydraulic projects.

From 1945: Modernisation

Teaching and degrees

With traditional core competences in civil engineering, environment, transport, town and regional planning, mechanics, industrial management and logistics, École des Ponts ParisTech offers high-level programmes in an extensive range of fields, from applied mathematics to economics and management.

École des Ponts ParisTech is among the schools called "généralistes", which means that students receive a broad, management-oriented and non-specialised education, and often quickly become top industrial managers.

Three major types of programmes are on offer :

École des Ponts ParisTech is also an application school of École Polytechnique, and provides education for the Corps of Bridges and Roads.

Departments

Education for the Master of Engineering is organised in the six following departments:

Research

École des Ponts ParisTech runs research in the following disciplines (the names of corresponding research centres are in brackets):

École des Ponts ParisTech was also the lead developer of Scilab along with INRIA. Scilab is now developed by the Scilab Consortium.

Laboratoire central des ponts et chaussées or LCPC is an Établissement public à caractère scientifique et technologique.[1]

Alumni and faculty

Alumni include (by alphabetical order, French unless indicated):

Past and present faculty include:

References

External links