How UNIL cut setup time from 2 weeks to 1 day

UNIL’s approach to delivering versioned, cloud-based environments for quantitative and data-driven courses

The Faculty of Business and Economics at Université de Lausanne (UNIL) needed to rapidly deliver computational courses to over 100 students. These courses spanning econometrics, applied statistics, and data science, relied on tools like R, Stata, Python, and JupyterLab, typically run in university computer labs. But at this scale, managing consistent setups across dozens of machines introduced friction, support overhead, and delays.

Then came COVID. Physical labs were no longer an option and the limitations of traditional infrastructure became impossible to ignore.

Thanks to Nuvolos, their instructors deployed browser-based labs for 120+ students using tools like R, Stata, Python, and JupyterLab, all preconfigured, reproducible, and available instantly.

Results at a Glance

"For the first time, I didn’t have to worry about software installs or version mismatches. Students were productive from day one." Prof. Simon Scheidegger, UNIL

The Challenge

Teaching data-intensive subjects like econometrics, applied statistics, and quantitative finance increasingly relies on complex software environments often involving R, Python, Stata, MATLAB, and JupyterLab. These tools are typically delivered through university computer labs, but scaling them for courses with over 100 students introduces serious operational pain.

At Université de Lausanne (UNIL), the Faculty of Business and Economics faced key barriers:

• Limited scalability of physical labs. Maintaining consistent, functional setups across dozens of lab machines became increasingly error-prone and labor-intensive, especially during peak teaching periods.

• Frequent configuration issues and student onboarding delays.

The Solution

In March 2020, during the COVID crisis, Prof. Simon Scheidegger, a long-time Nuvolos user, referred UNIL’s faculty to Nuvolos.
Within days, they:

• Deployed preconfigured environments for R, Python, Stata, MATLAB, and Julia.

• Gave students instant, browser-based access, no installations, no IT tickets.

• Ensured reproducibility of every assignment through versioned workspaces.

• Scaled to 120+ students simultaneously with zero downtime or software conflicts.

"Within days, the department moved 100+ students to cloud labs, no installs, no IT headaches, and 100% reproducibility.” Prof. Simon Scheidegger, UNIL

Why Professors Choose Nuvolos

• Instant labs for econometrics, finance, and data-heavy courses.

• R, Python, MATLAB, Stata, Julia, all preconfigured in the browser.

• Scalable & reproducible environments for 10 or 120+ students.

• Zero IT overhead, no hardware, no patching, no troubleshooting.

Ready to Try It?

Want to offer a UNIL-style lab setup in your own course? Apply to use Nuvolos in your course this semester. Free for the first 6 months. 

No commitment, cancel anytime during the trial.