École normale supérieure Paris

The École normale supérieure (also known as Normale Sup’, Normale, ENS, ENS-Paris, ENS-Ulm or Ulm) is a French grande école (higher education establishment outside the mainstream framework of the public universities system). The ENS was initially conceived during the Revolution, and intended to provide the Republic with a new body of teachers, trained in the critical spirit and secular values of the Enlightenment.

www.ens.fr

It has since developed into an elite institution which does not offer degrees as such, but become the platform for France's brightest young people to pursue high-level careers in government and academia. Its alumni have provided France with scores of philosophers, writers, scientists, statesmen and even churchmen. Its alumni include 12 laureates of the Nobel Prize and 9 recipients of the Fields medal. For a long time, women were taught at a separate ENS. The two were merged, after some heated debate, into a single entity, with its main campus at the historical "rue d'Ulm" site.

The ENS system and ethos is different to that of most higher education systems outside France, although it has been copied since Napoleonic times; for instance, in Italy. Nevertheless, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked it the best higher-education institution in Continental Europe in 2006 and 2007. The latest Academic Ranking of World Universities (2008), however, ranked it only 73rd in the world, 17th in the EU, and 3rd in France.

The main ENS campus is located around the rue d'Ulm (Ulm Street, the main building being at 45, rue d'Ulm) in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The ENS has annex campuses on Boulevard Jourdan (previously, the women's college), and in Montrouge, as well as a biology annex in the countryside at Foljuif.

Three other "écoles normales supérieures" were established in the 19th century: the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (sciences) and École Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines (humanities), both in Lyon; and the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan (pure and applied sciences, sociology, economics and management, English language) in Cachan. These schools challenge the supremacy of the ENS-Ulm. However, together they form the informal ENS-group. For this reason the ENS in Paris is often called 'ENS-Paris' or 'ENS-Ulm'.

The École Normale Supérieure is a member of Paris Universitas, a union of 6 Parisian universities.

History

Originally founded to train high school teachers through the agrégation, it is now an institution training researchers, professors, high-level civil servants, as well as business and political leaders. It focuses on the association of training and research, with an emphasis on freedom of curriculum.

Its alumni include nine laureates of the Fields Medal (all French holders of the Fields medal were educated at the École Normale Supérieure), as well as several Nobel Prize winners in both science and literature.

Like many other grandes écoles, the ENS mostly enrolls its students two or three years after high school. The majority of them come from prépas (preparatory classes, see grandes écoles) and have to pass France's most selective competitive exams. Studies at ENS last four years. Many students devote the third year to the agrégation, which allows them to teach in high schools or universities. ENS-Ulm annually enrolls about 100 students in science and the same number in the humanities.

The normaliens, as the students of the ENS are known, are expected to maintain a level of excellence in the various disciplines in which they are trained. Normaliens from France and other European Union countries are considered civil servants in training. As such, they are paid a monthly salary, in exchange for an agreement to serve France for 10 years, including their studies. Although it is seldom applied in practice, this exclusivity clause is redeemable (often by the hiring firm).

Apart from the normaliens, ENS also welcomes selected foreign students ("international selection"), as well as selected students from neighboring universities, to follow the same curriculum but without a stipend. It also participates in various graduate programs and has extensive research laboratories.

The teaching assistants at the ENS are called the "caïmans", and the goldfish in the pond the "Ernests". The fictitious mathematician Nicolas Bourbaki's "association of collaborators" is based at ENS.

Faculties

Humanities and Social Sciences
Philosophy, Literature, History of Art, Classical Studies (Latin/Greek/Archaeology) Theoretical Linguistics, Historical Linguistics and grammar, History, Geography, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, History and Philosophy of Sciences, History and Philosophy of Law, Cognitive Sciences, Cinematographic Studies.

Sciences
Mathematics, Biology, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Sciences.

Several examples of interdisciplinary curricula
History and Philosophy of Science, Mathematics and Economics, Sociology and Anthropology, Ancient History and Science, Aesthetics and History of Art, Musicology and Literature, Medicine and Biology, Economics and Law, Geography and Geo-strategy, Biology and Chemistry or Mathematics...

École normale supérieure was ranked 28th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking