École Centrale Paris was founded in 1829 on a private initiative by Alphonse Lavallée, who financed its creation and became its first president, and three distinguished scientists: Eugène Peclet, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and . The founding vision was to promote the development of 'industrial science', or practical applications of recent major scientific discoveries, and to educate multidisciplinary engineers to lead the emerging industrial sector. The institution was offered to the French state in 1857. Initially located in the Hôtel de Juigné, it was transferred to rue Montgolfier in 1884, where it stayed until 1969. Its current location neighbours the Parc de Sceaux.
École Supérieure d'Electricité
Supélec was founded in 1894 by Eleuthère Mascart, a prominent academic who was elected as a Perpetual Member and Secretary of the Académie des Sciences and Foreign Member of the British Royal Society. He was also a Professor at the Collège de France, and recipient of the Bordin Prize in 1866 as well as the Grand prix de l'Académie des sciences in 1874. Supélec was created in order to educate engineers for the then booming electrical industry. Supélec was originally based in Rue de Staël, 15th district of Paris. It was then relocated to Malakoff close to Porte de Vanves, and Gif-sur-Yvette in 1975, where the main campus is currently located. A second campus was established in Rennes in 1972 and a third in Metz in 1985.
CentraleSupélec Alliance
Since December 2008, a strategic alliance was announced between the two schools, known today through the common brand of CentraleSupélec. Hervé Biausser became the director in 2013, 1 September, while keeping the directorship of Centrale Paris. CentraleSupélec now has three campuses in France: Gif-sur-Yvette, Metz and Rennes.
Since 2008, École Centrale Paris and Supélec have participated in the creation of the campus of the Paris-Saclay research cluster. The University of Paris-Saclay is a French mega universityunder development, which aims to become the top university of continental Europe in the ARWU rankings.
Academics
Admission
The majority of students admitted to the engineer's degree program are selected among candidates from French preparatory classes, which is usually a two to three-year post-secondary program with a focus on certain subjects such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering Sciences, and Industrial Sciences. CentraleSupélec offers 142 places in the Mathematics and Physics program, 88 places in the Physics and Chemistry program, 93 places in the Physics and Engineering Sciences program, 10 places in the Physics and Technology program, and 10 places in the Technology and Industrial Sciences program. The school also recruits top students from overseas partner universities as well as some graduates of French public universities to join the engineer's degree program. Before 2018, students at CentraleSupélec were admitted to either the Centralien or Supélec engineer's degree programs, and consequently students enrolled before this year receive the academic degree bearing the name of their respective engineer program upon graduation. On the other hand, all engineering students admitted in 2018 and onward are placed in a 'unified' engineer program and graduate with the same academic degree
Teaching and learning
Research
Rankings
CentraleSupélec is widely considered to be among the top 2 engineering schools of France. According to several salary surveys, graduates from both the Ecole Centrale and Supelec Engineering Programs are among the highest-paid in France.
