Vision
The EPFL Development Plan 2025-2028 states the following vision:
To serve society effectively, EPFL is committed to applying the highest standards of quality in the fulfilment of its fundamental missions.
- Firstly, education, encompassing both basic university training and the promotion of lifelong learning, designed to meet constantly changing needs and adapt to technological advances.
- Secondly, innovative research at EPFL must harmoniously join basic sciences and fundamental research with applied research. The former represents a long-term investment and acts as the basis for the latter, which responds to more specific societal challenges.
- Finally, the transfer of knowledge and practical expertise to society through innovation and outreach is of paramount importance. Thanks to its campuses in Geneva, Neuchâtel, Fribourg and Valais, as well as the Switzerland Innovation Park Network West EPFL, EPFL’s intercantonal impact is growing. It is by maximizing this impact that EPFL will be able to contribute fully to the major challenges of our time.
Achieving these ambitious goals depends on EPFL’s ability to attract and retain the best talent – students, teachers, staff and scientists – in all their diversity and creativity. Over and above the infrastructure and resources made available, this requires a dynamic community, driven by a deep sense of belonging and trust. EPFL is fully committed to cultivating this spirit, which is essential to its excellence and impact.
Missions
Often summarized as “Education, Research, Innovation”, EPFL’s mission is described as follows in the Swiss Federal Act on the Federal Institutes of Technology:
- The two federal institutes of technology and the four research institutes within the ETH Domain shall:
- educate students and specialists in scientific and technical fields and ensure continuing education and training;
- expand scientific knowledge through research;
- support junior scientific staff;
- provide scientific and technical services;
- ensure a dialogue with the public;
- exploit their research findings.
- They shall take account of Switzerland’s needs.
- They shall discharge their remit at an internationally recognised level and encourage international cooperation.
- The guiding principles for teaching and research are respect for human dignity, responsibility in the use of natural resources and the environment together with an evaluation of the consequences of technological applications.