École Normale Supérieure

École normale supérieure
Established	1794
Type	EPCSCP
Director	Monique Canto-Sperber
Students	2,000
Undergraduates	none
Postgraduates	Masters, agrégation, Ph.D
Location	Paris, France
Colours	Yellow, Purple
Nickname	ENS Ulm, Normale Sup'
Affiliations	Paris Universitas, Atomium Culture
Website	www.ens.fr

The École normale supérieure (French pronunciation: [ekɔl nɔʁmal sypeʁjœʁ]; also known as Normale sup’, Normale, and ENS) is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles (higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities system). The ENS was initially conceived during the French Revolution, and it was intended to provide the Republic with a new body of teachers, trained in the critical spirit and secular values of the Enlightenment. It has since developed into an elite institution which does not offer degrees as such, but has 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. Among them are 12 Nobel Prize laureates and 11 recipients of the Fields medal in mathematics.

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 is different from that of most higher education systems outside France, although it has been copied since Napoleonic times, for instance in Italy. Nevertheless, the THE-QS World University Rankings (From 2010 two separate rankings will be produced by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the QS World University Rankings) ranked it the best higher-education institution in Continental Europe in 2006 and 2007^[1][2].

The historic Paris ENS campus is located around the "rue d'Ulm", the main building being at 45 rue d'Ulm) in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. The ENS-Ulm has annex campuses on Boulevard Jourdan (previously, the women's college) (, elsewhere in Paris), and in Montrouge (a suburb; ), 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. For example, a French think-tank ranked the ENS-Lyon above the ENS-Ulm in the sciences. In the humanities, the ENS Lettres et sciences humaines (ENS-LSH) has a competitive entrance exam which is as selective as that for the ENS-Paris. All four together form the informal ENS-group.

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

The École Normale Supérieure cooperates in Atomium Culture, the first Permanent Platform for European Excellence that brings together some of Europe's leading universities, newspapers and businesses.

École is the inspiration of the erection of the Philippine Normal College in Manila, now the Philippine Normal University.

Overview

The quadrangle at the main ENS building on rue d'Ulm is known as the Cour aux Ernests – the Ernests being the goldfish in the pond.

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 eleven 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 fictitious mathematician Nicolas Bourbaki's "association of collaborators" is based at ENS.

Influence abroad

The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa was founded in 1810 as a branch of the École normale supérieure and later gained independence.

The ENS group has opened a branch at the ECNU in Shanghai.

Free online content

Some lectures are in free access on the "Transfer of knowledge" site of the ENS.

About fifty books are in free access on the "Éditions Rue d'Ulm" site, all in French.

Alumni and faculty

See also

• Alumni of the École Normale Supérieure
• École Normale Supérieure faculty
• École Polytechnique
• École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris
• École Centrale Paris
• Paris Universitas
• École Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines
• Atomium Culture

References

External links

• ENS Paris
• ENS Lettres et Sciences Humaines

• ENS Cachan
• A. J. Ladd, École Normale Supérieure: An Historical Sketch (Grand Forks, N.D. : Herald Pub. Co., 1897)