RAK has beaches, desert and soon, EPFL 9 (image: RAK tourism office)
RAK mountain (photo: RAK tourism office)
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – EPFL, the Lausanne-based Swiss federal polytechnic institute, is opening its first campus outside Switzerland, in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), one of the seven Emirates of the United Arab Emirates. The new campus is being built in partnership with the Emirate, which is funding the entire project, including the creation of five research chairs in RAK and five mirror chairs in Lausanne.
EPFL and the RAK Investment Authority will create a jointly-owned (50/50) “financial structure” but no details are available at the moment for what this will cover, or for the cost of the project or the timeframe to build it. The campus will mainly attract graduate students and it will focus on research related to the environment and energy supply. RAK will finance the chairs and educational programs in RAK, the acquisition of scientific and technical equipment, and infrastructure operations. The infrastructure equipment itself will be made available to the EPFL courtesy of RAK, the EPFL press office notes.
EPFL explained the new location choice in a press release: “The Emirates, which are reliant on their petroleum resources (7-9% of the world’s reserves), have become aware of the need to diversify their income and reduce their dependence on oil. While the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which has most of the oil resources, has become the political and cultural capital, and Dubai the financial and tourist capital, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) is keeping pace with them in the areas of education, research and industrial development.”
The exact location for the university is not yet known and the future building site might be described as at best “promising: “It’s mostly desert,” EPFL spokesman Jérôme Grosse concedes. The area has big development plans, however, with 2.5 million tourists expected by 2012, and two dozen five-star hotels expected to open, according to the RAK tourism office. Golf and a seaside resort are now pulling in some visitors.
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News story, GenevaLunch, 4 February 2009.
Filed under: Education
Tags: Education, Emirates, energy research, energy supply, EPFL, graduate school, RAK, university
March 19th, 2009 at 12:12 am
EPFL is pullling in, just as George Mason University is pulling out of RAK to avoid having to dump the quality of their education.
(see http://eagle.gmu.edu/newsroom/740/)
I hope EPFL knows what they are doing, or else this will be another case of the Swiss taxpayers having to step in to rescue the country’s “reputation”.
May 22nd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Hello,
I just want to know if there is possible to apply for a job for EPFL in Abu Dhabi? I work in accounting and I have a CFC “employée de commerce”. If there is possible, I can send you my CV and motivation letter.
Thank you and I’m looking forward for hearing you.
Daniela Charles
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Daniela, you need to contact EPFL directly: http://www5.epfl.ch/emplois/
August 5th, 2009 at 10:46 am
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