Grandes écoles

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The grandes écoles (French: great schools) of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities. They are generally focused on a single subject area, such as engineering, have a moderate size, and are selective in their admission of students. Some of them are highly prestigious, and traditionally have produced most of France's administrators, executives, scientists and philosophers.

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[edit] Preparatory classes

The Lycée Louis-le-Grand, in Paris, is one of the most famous lycées providing classes for preparing for grandes écoles. (Here, on the right side of the rue St Jacques; on the left, the Sorbonne.)
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The Lycée Louis-le-Grand, in Paris, is one of the most famous lycées providing classes for preparing for grandes écoles. (Here, on the right side of the rue St Jacques; on the left, the Sorbonne.)

In most cases, grandes écoles recruit students not after the end of their high school, but after two or more years of initial higher education. For the most part, this education takes place in special preparatory classes, known as classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) or prépas (familiarly called taupe for those with concentration on science) , that dispense undergraduate university-level education at an accelerated pace. Prépas are located in a number of select high schools throughout the country; some of them, such as Henri IV and Louis-le-Grand in Paris, are famous in their own right.

There are five main categories of prépas:

  • mathématiques supérieures (1st year; familiarly called math sup) and mathématiques spéciales (2nd year; familiarly called math spé). These prépas prepare for the Grandes Ecoles d'Ingénieurs (engineering schools) and teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, and technology. They are broken down in three sub-categories, according to the emphasis of their teaching:
    • MPSI (1st year)/MP (2nd year), with emphasis on mathematics.
    • PCSI (1st year)/PC or PSI (2nd year), with emphasis on physics and chemistry.
    • PTSI (1st year)/PT or TSI (2nd year) with emphasis on technology. (Special sections exist called MP*,PC*,PSI* and so on, that prepare students for the entrance exams to the most prestigious Engineering Schools, such as Polytechnique and Centrale)
  • biology, geology and mathematics (agro);
  • humanities (hypokhâgne and khâgne);
  • mathematics and economics known as prépa HEC or épice (2 years preparatory class for business schools).
  • History, archival science and library science, known as prépa Chartes from the name of the school.

There is some specific jargon in these classes. Hence, the year of mathématiques spéciales is called the taupe, which stems from the French name for moles because, according to stereotypes, they are short-sighted (like the little burrowing animal) and hardly ever go out. The students themselves are called taupins. One integrates a school when one succeeds in passing the competitive exam to that school. If you are admitted to a school after two years of prépa, you are 3/2; if you repeat a year, you are 5/2. The story behind those names is the following: one of the most prestigious engineering schools in France is the École Polytechnique, often dubbed X, as the unknown variable in mathematics. The integral of X between 1 and 2 (the numbers representing years of study) is 3/2, and the integral between 2 and 3 is 5/2. One might add that for the "épice" and "Khâgne", other terms are used: 3/2 becomes "carré" (square) and 5/2 becomes "cube" (also written "khûbe")

[edit] Categories

Grandes écoles can be classified into several broad categories:

[edit] Écoles normales supérieures

These schools train researchers, professors and may also be a starting point for executive careers in the public administration or business. There are four of them:

Their competitive entrance exams are considered to be very selective, specialy the École Normale Supérieure. They recruit mainly from taupes, biology prépas and khâgnes, even though a small number of their students (less than 10 each year) are recruited separately on the basis of highly selective exams.

Unlike most of the other Grandes Ecoles, the écoles normales supérieures (ENS) do not award any specific diplomas but rather their students have the possibility of obtaining university diplomas on an accelerated schedule compared to the regular university curriculum. Many ENS students obtain more than one university diploma.

The normaliens, as the students of the several ENS are known, attain a high 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, and as such paid a monthly salary, in exchange for an agreement to serve France for 10 years, including those of their studies.

[edit] École nationale des chartes

The school's main purpose is to provide archivists and paleographers, but students are also trained to become academic and other professional historians, library curators and, more broadly, high-level executives of the Ministry of Culture.

The competitive entrance exams are about the most selective as the school typically enroll less than 30 students each year, making it the Grande école with the smallest number of students. The competitive entrance exams are split into two ways sorting the students by their speciality between the classical A way focused on medieval history and modern history and for which students are trained in prepa chartes, and the modern B way focused on modern and contemporary history and which is open to student in khâgnes.

The students, known as chartistes, are granted a diploma of Archivist-Paleographer at the end of their 4 years of training, along with the other university diploma that most of the student acquire during their training. The Chartistes keep a level of excellence in History, Archival science and Library science. Their reputation is so broad that many alumni of the Ecole des Chartes are found serving in as archivist in foreign countries or in international organizations. The school also train a small number of foreign students each year.

Quite like normaliens the students at the Ecole Nationale des Chartes are considered civil servants in training, and as such paid a monthly salary, in exchange for an agreement to serve France for 10 years.

[edit] Engineering schools

There is a broad spectrum of engineering schools, many recruiting after taupes. Things may be a bit confusing since many schools have a lengthy official name (often beginning with École Nationale Supérieure), a shortened name, an acronym and, for the most famous, a nickname (and often a nickname for their students).

Here follows a list of engineering schools. But such a classification must be taken cautiously as it is not official, but purely subjective to the writer.

[edit] Administrative schools

These schools train students for certain civil service and other public-sector positions. However, some students who undertake studies in these schools do end up working in the private sector.

  • École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), whose alumni are known as énarques and generally take up high-level positions in government;
  • École Nationale des impots (ENI), which translate "National tax college";
  • École Nationale de la magistrature (ENM);
  • Institut d'études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), whose students end up at the ENA of in various sectors;
  • École Nationale des Travaux Publics de L'Etat (ENTPE), which translates "National School for the Public Works of the State", exists under the auspices of the French Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure, Tourism and the Sea. Students graduate with an "engineering" degree based on a curriculum that is technical, sociological/political, and administrative in focus -- thus ENTPE takes a praxis approach to applied learning. Graduates often accept prestigious positions with the French civil service and foreign ministry.
  • The eight provincial Instituts d'études politiques, in Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse;

[edit] Architecture schools

[edit] Food science, biological and agricultural engineering

[edit] Management schools ("Écoles de commerce")

Most French business schools are semi-privately run, often by the regional chambers of commerce. The most well-known are:

[edit] In the Paris Metropolitan Area

[edit] Outside Paris (non-exhaustive list)

[edit] Military officer academies

While École Polytechnique, also known as X is run by the Ministry of Defence and its French students are reserve officers in training, it is no longer a military academy and few of its students embrace a military career afterwards.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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