09.05.2024
The Conference of Section Directors (CDS) aims to standardize the practice of awarding the “mention d’excellence” (distinction of excellence) for master’s degrees, by establishing it for all master’s programs within the school according to the same rules. In short, for each master’s program, a graduating student would be awarded the distinction of excellence if their average grade is equal to or higher than 95% of the averages obtained in the last 5 cohorts of the same master’s program. Details can be found in the consultation: [link – requires EPFL wifi or VPN access]
AGEPoly conducted two surveys among the student body. The first survey was online and received very few responses. The second was conducted on the esplanade during an event. Out of approximately 100 votes cast, two-thirds were against the proposal for the distinction of excellence, and one-third were in favor. It was also a moment for discussing academic valorization in general.
AGEPoly then took the following position [link – requires EPFL wifi or VPN access], opposing the proposal as presented.
The Vice-Presidency associated with education responded to the various submitted positions [link – requires EPFL wifi or VPN access], where the feedback was mostly negative. The next step is to present the proposal to the EPFL management, which will decide whether to adopt it or not.
04.07.2024
Continuation and conclusion:
The EPFL board has decided: following the unfavorable positions of the Faculty Conference (CCE) and the School Assembly, the management has decided not to implement the mention of excellence as proposed in the above consultation for all EPFL master’s programs. The legal department also determined that it was illegal for this mention to exist in some master’s programs and not others. Therefore, starting with the Class of 2026, there will no longer be a mention of excellence in the master’s programs.
As mentioned in the AGEPoly’s position paper, a part of the student body nevertheless believes that there should be greater recognition for academic work. AGEPoly will need to address this issue soon!