News of the Direction of Education - October 2011

Summary

• Organisational changes made in DAF
• Development of IS-Academia
• Deanship of the Bachelor and Master School: what’s new for the new academic year
• Credit Suisse award for best teaching 2011
• Activities at the EPFL Library for Freshers’ Week
• Three new surveys launched by EPFL Management Board
• 1st International Day at EPFL
• EPFL/ETH Zurich Partner Days
• Pleine reconnaissance du diplôme d’architecte EPFL dans l’UE [French only]
  

Organisational changes made in DAF

Changes have been made to the structure of DAF during these past few months. Daniel Chuard has taken up the post again of Education delegate, while Isabelle Cahour and Isabelle Tuor have followed Nathalie Pichard in going to work on the dossiers for the whole Vice Presidency for Academic Affairs (VPAA). Albertine Kolendowska is continuing in her position as assistant to the Dean of the Bachelor and Master School and the Education delegate. Additional staff will be recruited to the DAF main office once we have sufficient information about the distribution of activities between the VPAA and DAF.

Some changes have also been made to the services offered by DAF. David Aymonin will leave his position as Director of the Library at the end of September 2011. We are currently in the process of recruiting his replacement. Daniel Chuard will take over this position temporarily, assisted by Guilaine Baud-Vittoz, Mirjana Rittmeyer and Thomas Guignard. The post of Director of the EPFL Language Centre managed by UNIL was taken up by Elisabeth Paliot on 1 June 2011. We wish her every success as part of our team.

Daniel Chuard, Education delegate

Development of IS-Academia

The IS-Academia tool provides a number of developments for lecturers, department managers and students. Since early summer, teachers and department administrators have been able to compare between different courses the marks given to students and the assessments they have received. There is also a function allowing them to compare the results achieved in one course with all the courses attended by the same students. From mid-September, a portal will be available in IS-Academia enabling lecturers and students to have easier access to the functions they require for managing their studies.

Daniel Chuard, OGIF

Deanship of the Bachelor and Master School: what’s new for the new academic year

The Deanship of the Bachelor and Masters programs finally has its own WEBSITE! We invite you to visit it at http://decanat-bama.epfl.ch.

At the moment, 17 students have signed up for the new master’s degree in Energy Management and Sustainability in the coming academic year. This course will be taught at the Lausanne site for the first two semesters and then at Ras al Khaimah, UAE, for the last semester and masters project.

The project aimed at reforming teaching is continuing during the next academic year with an extension of the tutorial system to the vast majority of analysis and physics courses in first year. As a matter of information, the tutorial system involves splitting students into groups of 8-10 students led by a tutor (a more experienced student) who supports them throughout the semesters.

The Mechanical Engineering Department has carried out a pilot project aimed at introducing a skills-based description of its courses. It has revamped its lessons and course booklet as a result of this.

The School has launched a wide-ranging reflection on its Bachelor courses. The deanship is doing this by working with the section heads and those responsible for teaching (CRAFT) on a new structure for our courses, aimed at reinforcing the multi-disciplinary and practical activities provided in our courses. The School is planning, at the same time, to have a building constructed, dedicated to multi-disciplinary assignments and projects carried out by our students during the course of their studies. This “Teaching Bridge” will become the hallmark of our new teaching methodology.

As of the 2011-2012 academic year, every group of engineers will have a work placement to complete, lasting a minimum of 8 weeks, in order to obtain their master’s degree. The management of these placements is integrated into our study management tool IS-Academia, allowing companies, department/faculty administrators and students to communicate with each other during the process of announcing, registering for and monitoring placements.

Pierre-André Besse, BA/MA Deanship

Credit Suisse award for best teaching 2011

The prize offered by the Credit Suisse Foundation was awarded for the 5th year in succession. This prize for excellence is given to a member of EPFL, an external teacher or teaching team selected on the basis of all their contributions to the institute’s educational activities, particularly in the form of courses, student projects, producing texts and other teaching materials, as well as the innovative nature of their teaching. 

The 2011 Jury chaired by Philippe Gillet, Vice-President of Academic Affairs, decided to award the prize to Francesco Mondada for the enthusiasm and creativity he has shown while teaching the engineers of the future. Numerous classes of robotics students have enjoyed the benefit of his passion, expertise and time. His commitment has extended widely beyond EPFL and had an impact on numerous teachers and thousands of young people, especially because of the robotics open days. He will be presented with the prize during the Graduation Ceremony on 15 October.

For more information on the prize, visit: http://decanat-bama.epfl.ch/page-63312-en.html 

For more information about the prize winner, visit: Francesco Mondada

 Albertine Kolendowska, Assistant to the Education delegate

Activities at the EPFL Library for Freshers’ Week

During Freshers’ Week (12-16 September 2011), the library has organised a number of activities in partnership with the SAE, AGEPoly, Doctoral School and CMS.

These activities enabled around 1,000 new students (all levels combined) to get to know the EPFL Library and the services we offer.

The figures are based on the numbers from last year and the estimates for this year supplied to us by our partners.

New students Library website

Three new surveys launched by EPFL Management Board

The EPFL Management Board has decided to carry out again, 6 years after the first occasion, three satisfaction surveys among students and staff at EPFL. This second round of surveys, which is being carried out a year after the RLC opened, will take place in three stages:

a) survey of CMS, Bachelor and Masters students (CAMPUS II): this will be carried out in October 2011 and presented to the EPFL Management Board in early January 2012. The results are expected to be announced from the end of February 2012.

b) survey of PhD students (Doctorants II): this will be carried out end of November/early December 2011 and presented to the EPFL Management Board in March 2012. The results are expected to be announced from the end of April 2012.

c) survey of staff (ATMOS II): this is scheduled for early 2012 and the results will be given to the EPFL Management Board around April 2012, with the content due to be published from the end of May 2012.

The surveys will be prepared by three project groups, with the consistent support of CRAFT. These four bodies will also be responsible for calculating, analysing and summarising the results. The survey will be put online by a service company which had taken part in the 2005 MIS-TREND survey carried out among PhD students. This cooperation with an external service provider is appropriate for protecting the personal details of the students and staff taking part in the survey, thus ensuring their total anonymity. A steering committee, led by the Provost of EPFL and VPAA Philippe Gillet, will supervise all three processes. The social partners and relevant internal parties at EPFL are members of the project groups, while the President of the EPFL Assembly sits on the steering committee. The preparations for the three surveys already started in June 2011.

The valuable results will be used to adapt the changes currently being made to the Bachelor/Masters courses, as well as to make a considerable improvement to the services EPFL offers to students and staff. The summary of the results will be given at the appropriate time to the ETH Board, the strategic and monitoring body of the ETH Domain, as part of the reporting under the current service mandate.

More information: [email protected]

Michel Jaccard, Accreditation and Quality Assurance (OAQ)

1st International Day at EPFL

As part of the EPFL Forum, the International Relations and Mobility Departments are organising an International Day for 12 October 2011. Along with company stands, the Forum will also welcome around 15 stands from selected partner universities, representatives from which will be present to answer questions from students (or anyone else!).

Béatrice Belogi, International Affairs Delegation

EPFL/ETH Zurich Partner Days

In cooperation with our colleagues at ETHZ, the Office of International Relations has arranged an event entitled “EPFL/ETH Zurich Partner Days”. 

The aim of this event is to raise our profile in North America and to increase the stream of American students involved in our respective exchange programs. In actual fact, all our cooperation agreements stipulate that the number of students must be balanced. This means that if we want to be able to send our students there (and the demand is high), it is absolutely vital that we attract the maximum number of young Americans to our campus.

This event, which has received financial and logistical support from Presence Switzerland, combines tourist activities with a visit to our respective campuses. A large part of the program is devoted to establishing personal contacts. The smooth operation of these exchanges very often depends on the people involved. It should also be noted that several Education Office (DAF) sections are involved. We would like to thank them in advance for this.

This inaugural event took place from Saturday 10 to Tuesday 13 September. Sixteen colleagues from North America have responded positively to our invitation, including representatives from Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, Toronto, Texas Austin, Johns Hopkins, Georgia Tech and Purdue.

Any additional information can be obtained from Antoine Fromentin.

Antoine Fromentin, International Affairs delegate

Pleine reconnaissance du diplôme d’architecte EPFL dans l’UE [French only]

La profession d’architecte est, parmi les professions accessibles aux diplômés EPFL, une des plus protégées à l’étranger, restreignant souvent la mobilité professionnelle de nos alumnis. Leur insertion sur le marché du travail peut devenir un véritable casse-tête. Leur situation est toutefois maintenant définitivement réglée à leur plein avantage dans les pays membres de l’UE :

La section d’architecture a préparé récemment un dossier à l’attention de I‘OFFT visant à faire reconnaître, par la Commission européenne et les Etats membres de I‘UE, la conformité du nouveau Master en architecture EPF aux directives européennes sur la reconnaissance professionnelle des diplômes (directive 85/384/CEE et 2005/36/CE). Ce processus est enfin arrivé à son terme. Après de longues négociations dans un contexte politique parfois difficile, la Suisse et l’UE ont pu se mettre d‘accord, le 30 septembre 2011, pour signer une décision du Comité mixte Suisse-UE sur la libre circulation des personnes. Cette décision incorpore notamment le Master en architecture EPF dans la liste des titres automatiquement reconnus dans l’UE. 

Cela signifie que, en vertu de la directive 2005/36/CE, les détenteurs de ce diplôme ont accès directement à leur profession dans tous les pays de l‘UE/AELE; la reconnaissance automatique du titre signifie que l‘autorité du pays d‘accueil n‘a pas le droit d‘exiger des examens complémentaires ou des périodes de stage avant de donner accès la profession. Chaque titulaire du diplôme EPFL doit cependant solliciter une reconnaissance auprès de l’autorité compétente du pays d‘accueil.

Cet accord signifie donc une pleine reconnaissance professionnelle et académique du diplôme EPFL dans tous les pays membres de l’UE, un avantage fondamental pour la mobilité de nos alumnis. 

La décision du Comité mixte qui vient d‘être signée sera appliquée provisoirement depuis te 1er novembre 2011. Le Parlement doit encore ratifier ce texte, le dossier lui sera transmis par le Conseil fédéral ces prochains mois. L‘entrée en vigueur définitive de la décision interviendra à l‘issue de la procédure législative.

"Je suis extrêmement heureuse de l'issue favorable de ce dossier qui a été passionnant, nous faisant découvrir une partie des rouages européens", témoigne Laure Palluel Kochnitzky, adjointe de la section d’architecture, qui tient à associer le professeur Patrick Mestelan à ce succès. Avec lui elle a préparé les documents, suivi toutes les phases du processus, effectué un voyage à Bruxelles, rédigé des textes complémentaires, et… attendu patiemment cette annonce !

Renseignements complémentaires : 
- [email protected], adjointe de la section d’architecture ENAC
- [email protected], Provost Office (pour les questions générales de reconnaissance de bachelors et masters EPFL, professionnelle et académique).