“EPFL Without Barriers”: accessible and inclusive ‒ Equality ‐ EPFL

EPFL aims to provide a welcoming, accessible and inclusive environment for all its students and staff, so that everyone can thrive and succeed.

EPFL attaches particular importance to the diversity of its community, which contributes to its intellectual, scientific and cultural wealth. However, day-to-day life at EPFL still involves obstacles and challenges that are out of place, and which particularly affect people with neurodiversity, chronic illnesses or sensory, physical or other impairments.

The “EPFL Without Barriers” project was launched in 2023 with the aim to assess existing social and environmental barriers, and to formulate recommendations to improve the School’s ability to welcome its entire community under the best possible conditions. The project is equally aimed at students, academic staff as well as administrative and technical staff.

Assessment and recommendations

The conclusions of the self-evaluation phase, organised in seven thematic areas with recommendations and priorities for future actions, were validated by the project Steering Committee on 20 December 2023 and presented to the EPFL Direction on 30 January 2024.

Executive summary of the report (pdf 169 KB)
Full report (in French, English version to come, pdf 1.4 MB)

Gisou van der Goot, VPT (chair)
Kathryn Hess Bellwald, AVP-SAO
Pierre Dillenbourg, AVP-E
Claudia Noth, VPO-DRH
Franco Vigliotti, VPO-DDC
Eric Du Pasquier, VPO-SE
Rafael Corvalan, VPO-DSI
Gaël Hürlimann, Médiacom
Basile Morier, student body representative, member of the School Assembly
Antoine Hoffmann, intermediary body representative, member of the School Assembly
Frédéric Dreyer, administrative and technical staff representative, member of the School Assembly
Fabienne Segu, external specialist, Forum handicap Vaud
Alireza Darvishy, external specialist, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)

Sonja Moghaddari, coordination VPT-EGA
Helene Füger, coordination support VPT-EGA
Damien Quaglia, AVP-SAO SAE
Isabelle Cahour, AVP-E GE
Gaël Revelin, VPA-SISBE
Matteo Galli, VPA-EM-APR
Jessica Pallie, VPO-DRH RHPP
Barry Stanton, VPO-DC CNST
Marie-Noëlle Morais, VPO-SE SIS-SEC
Natalie Meystre, VPO-DSI
Maureen Décosterd, P-MEDIACOM MEV
Xurxo-Adriàn Entenza, P-MEDIACOM MEC
Alexandre Saint-Amour, VPT-DUR
Claire Saout, VPT-DUR
and 6 people with a physical or sensory impairment, neurodiversity or chronic illness (3 men and 3 women from the student body, administrative staff or scientific staff)

Synthesis from the call for testimonials

Feed-back and input from persons affected by or witnessing social or environmental barriers to inclusion at EPFL was gathered through a call for testimonials between May 31 and August 31, 2023.

Synthesis of the results (pdf, 713 KB)

Next steps: Developping an action plan

Recommendations in the self-evaluation report have been accompanied by proposed actions. Work on some of these may be taken up already in 2024. Others are to be addressed as of 2025-2028. They will be taken up and clarified as part of the development of EPFL’s 2025-2028 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

Actions expected to be implemented as of 2024 include:

Definition of an institutional approach and sectorial guidelines to inclusivity.
Integration of accessibility principles and standards from the outset of a project.
Strengthen and coordinate EPFL resources, develop training and awareness-raising actions.
Improve communication on existing possibilities and resources.
Involve persons directly concerned in designing and testing solutions.
Define priority mobility routes on campus and guarantee their accessibility.