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Anécole normale supérieure (French pronunciation:[ekɔlnɔʁmalsypeʁjœʁ]) orENS (in English: "Institute of Advanced Education")[1] is a type of elitepublicly fundedhigher education institution inFrance. A portion of the student body, admitted via a highly-selective competitive examination process, are Frenchcivil servants and are known asnormaliens. ENSes also offer master's andPhD degrees, and can be compared to "Institutes for Advanced Studies". They constitute the top level of research-training education in the French university system.
The history ofécoles normales supérieures goes back to 30 October 1794 (9brumaire an III), whenÉcole normale de l'an III was established during theFrench Revolution.[2] The school was subsequently reestablished aspensionnat normal from 1808 to 1822, before being recreated in 1826 and taking the name ofÉcole normale in 1830. When institutes for primary teachers training calledécoles normales were created in 1845, the wordsupérieure (meaning upper) was added to form the current name.
The Savary Law of 1984 restructured higher education in France and classifiedécoles normales supérieures within the category ofétablissements publics à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel.[3]
As of January 2014, there arefour existing ENSes:
A twin institution has existed in Italy since its foundation by Napoleon Bonaparte, theScuola Normale Superiore inPisa.
After thesuppression of the Society of Jesus in France in 1762, a debate arose on how to replace their role in education. The idea of anécole normale, a place to train teachers for the secondary schools, is already mentioned in a report on education made in 1768 byRolland, president of theParlement of Paris.[4]
The firstécole normale was established by theNational Convention in a decree dated 30 October 1794.[2] Educated people from all parts of France were to be selected to attend the school and to subsequently return to found anécole normale in their department for the education of primary school teachers. Theécole normale de l'an III had renowned teachers such asLaplace,Lagrange, andBerthollet but actually only functioned for four months, from 20 January 1795 to 19 May 1795 or in the then in useFrench Republican Calendar from 1er pluviose of year III until 30 floréal of year III.
In the decree of Napoleon of 17 March 1808, the institution was re-established aspensionnat normal.[2] The candidates most promising for administration and education roles were admitted through acompetitive examination.[5] The students could attend courses atCollège de France,Muséum d'histoire naturelle orÉcole polytechnique.[5] Atécole normale, they received support from tutors for revising, laboratory experiments and teaching the art of teaching.[5]
In 1880,Camille Sée established secondary education for girls. Subsequently, a law dated 29 July 1881 founded theÉcole normale supérieure de jeunes filles located inSèvres.
Jules Ferry got a law passed on 9 August 1879 in order to force each department to establish and fund an institution to train primary school teachers for each gender (école normale de garçons andécole normale de filles).[6] In order to train the teaching body of these schools, so-calledécoles normales supérieures de l’enseignement primaire were needed. A decree dated 13 July 1880 set up the one for young women inFontenay-aux-Roses, and later in March 1882 the male equivalent opened inSaint-Cloud.[6]
Starting in 1891, a section for teacher training namedsections normales was established in theÉcole des Arts et métiers ofChâlons-sur-Marne (decree of 11 June 1891) and in theÉcole des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris (decree of 21 July 1894). A decree published on 15 June 1899 organizedsections normales for women. Thesesections normales were grouped together in 1912 into a single school which was named "École normale supérieure de l'enseignement technique" in 1934.
TheÉcole normale supérieure are a specific type ofGrandes Écoles, French institutions ofhigher education separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of theFrench public university system. Similar to theIvy League in the United States,Oxbridge in the UK, andC9 League in China,Grandes Écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process.[7][8][9]Grandes Écoles typically have much smaller class sizes and student bodies than public universities in France, and many of their programs are taught in English. While mostGrandes Écoles are more expensive than French universities, theÉcole normale supérieure charges the same tuition fees: €243 annually at master's degree in 2021–2022.[10] International internships, study abroad opportunities, and close ties with government and the corporate world are a hallmark of theGrandes Écoles.[11][12] Degrees fromÉcole normale supérieure are accredited by theConférence des Grandes Écoles[13] and awarded by theMinistry of National Education (France) (French:Le Ministère de L'éducation Nationale).[14] Alums go on to occupy elite positions within government, administration, and corporate firms in France.[15][16]
The competitive entrance exams for admission to the ENSs are extremely selective. They recruit mainly fromscientific andhumanitiesPrépas, even though a small number of their students (fewer than 10 each year) are recruited separately on the basis of highly competitive exams. The students from France and otherEuropean Union countries recruited after a Classe préparatoire are consideredcivil servants in training, and as such paid a monthly salary, in exchange for an agreement to serve France for 10 years, including those of their studies.
TheÉcole normale supérieure located in Paris is nicknamed "Ulm" from its addressrue d'Ulm (Ulm Street). It teaches sciences and humanities.École normale supérieure de Lyon inLyon also teaches sciences and humanities.École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay located in Cachan, a suburb of Paris andÉcole normale supérieure de Rennes located near Rennes teaches in 5 departements, which are:mechatronics, mathematics, informatics, sport sciences, earth sciences and law-economics-management.
Until recently and unlike most of the othergrandes écoles, theécoles normales supérieures did not award any specific diplomas (students who had completed the curriculum they had agreed to with the office of the Dean upon arrival were simply entitled to be known as "ENS Alumni" or "Normaliens"), but they encourage their students to obtain university diplomas in partner institutions whilst providing extra classes and support. Many ENS students obtain more than one university diploma.
According to a calculation published in 2016 byNature, the ENS Paris is the institution which, in proportion to the number of its alumni, has formed the greatest number of Nobel Prizes (0.001 35per capita) in the world, which allows it to get ahead of the prestigiousCalifornia Institute of Technology (Caltech) andHarvard University (respectively 0.000 67 and 0.000 32 per capita).[17]
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