Hans-Jörg Ruppen was born in 1953. After studying mathematics at the Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich (ETH-Z), he has got his PhD at the Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL) He was a teacher at Kollegium Spritus Sanctus in Brig (VS), later he worked at Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Sion (EIV). In 1997, he became Chef de Service at the Department of education, culture and sport in Valais. He has spent a major part of his effort to the legal basement for the newly created University of Applied Sciences (localization of the schools, conventions between schools, laws about the employees, ...). Since 2001, he is Director of the preparatory course (CMS) at EPFL. He was a member of several federal committees. He has represented EPFL at the Schweizerische Maturitätskommission (SMK) and he was a member of Conseil de la formation et de la recherche universitaire en Valais (CoFRU).