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 in the world 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
thumb|The [[Palais de Rumine, one of the former buildings of the University of Lausanne]]
thumb|Unithèque building houses one of the two sites of the [[Cantonal and University Library of Lausanne on the main campus of the UNIL.]]
The university was founded in 1537 as the Schola Lausannensis, one year after Bern annexed the territory of Barony of Vaud 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.
Since August 2021, the rector of the University of Lausanne is Frédéric Herman; before then, the university was led by Nouria Hernandez (2016–2021) and by Dominique Arlettaz (2006–2016).