diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0d3db737f..008426c61 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ python:
   - '2.7'
   - '3.5'
 
+virtualenv:
+  system_site_packages: true
+
 before_install:
   - sudo apt-get install -qq python-numpy python-scipy python-matplotlib
   - pip install coveralls