Governance

EPFL is headed by the Direction, which is composed of the President, the Vice Presidents and the Central Services. It is substructured into five Schools, two Colleges, an EPFL Assembly, a Council of EPFL teachers and multiple Centres.

Direction

The Direction is the highest authority of EPFL. It is responsible for the overall areas of education, research, innovation and the central administration of the institution. It ensures that EPFL fulfils its social and economic responsibilities.

It defines the administrative rules and operational structure of the institution. It decides on the creation and name of the units forming the institution and makes decisions in its capacity as employer. It collaborates closely with the various participatory bodies, such as the EPFL Assembly, the Deans of the School and the Central Services.

The Direction in detail

Portrait de Martin Vetterli à son bureau © EPFL - François Wavre

Président

Researcher, teacher and expert on the Swiss education and research landscape, Martin Vetterli was appointed President of EPFL in 2017.

Vue aérienne de l'EPFL, en particulier du bâtiment BI

President’s team

The President relies on central services that work with him on the institution’s major projects.

Martin Vetterli (président), Gisou van der Goot (Vice-présidence pour la transformation responsable - VPT), Jan Hesthaven (Vice-présidence académique - VPA), Ursula Oesterle (Vice-présidence pour l’innovation - VPI), Françoise Bommensatt (Vice-présidence pour les finances - VPF) et Matthias Gäumann (Vice-présidence pour les opérations - VPO) © Catherine Leutenegger

Vice-Presidencies

Five Vice-Presidents coordinate the institution’s activities.

Schools and Colleges

The five Schools are the teaching and research units of EPFL. They are responsible for teaching and supporting the sections through internal faculty training programs.

EFPL also has two Colleges.

EPFL Assembly

The EPFL Assembly has the right to make proposals on all normative acts of the ETH Board, on the budget and planning, on the creation or abolition of teaching and research units and on participation structures.

The AE also decides on the annual activity report of the President of the EPFL. It ensures participation within EPFL units.

Council of EPFL teachers

The Council of EPFL teachers represents the faculty. Its mission is to provide expert advice to the Direction on all matters concerning teaching.

The CCE is composed of 25 members and includes professors, MERs and lecturers. Members are elected by their peers for a period of 2 years, renewable twice at most.

Centres

A centre is a transdisciplinary unit with a specific mission of research, training and development that may have a scientific and technological infrastructure whose governance is defined by the Direction.

For centres attached to a faculty, governance is defined in consultation between the Direction and the dean concerned.

Explore EPFL institutes and research centres

Central Services

The Central Services assume administrative and technical tasks, as well as operational and support tasks for teaching, research and development for the entire EPFL.