University of Lausanne

The University of Lausanne (UNIL; ) in Lausanne, Switzerland was founded in 1537 as a school of Protestant theology, before being made a university in 1890. The university is the second oldest in Switzerland, and one of the oldest universities in the world to be in continuous operation. As of fall 2017, about 15,000 students and 3,300 employees studied and worked at the university. Approximately 1,500 international students attend the university (120 nationalities), which has a wide curriculum including exchange programs with other universities. Together with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) the university forms a vast campus at the shores of Lake Geneva. History The university was founded in 1537 as the Schola Lausannensis, one year after Bern annexed the territory of Barony of VaudVaud from the Duchy of Savoy, as a school of theology with the purpose of training pastors for the church. It enjoyed great renown in its early years for being the first and, until the establishment of the Academy of Geneva in 1559, the only French-language Protestant school of theology. It quickly became a center of humanist learning, with thinkers such as Corderius and Celio Secondo Curione among its professors. In 1558, the school had 700 students. It entered into a period of decline in the following years, after several members of the academic staff, including rector Theodore Beza and Pierre Viret, resigned their seats to join the newly established Academy of Geneva.