| Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Lyon | |
|---|---|
| Lyon Institute of Political Sciences | |
| Motto | Virtute duce comite fortuna |
| Motto in English | Under the guidance of valor, accompanied by good fortune |
| Established | 1948 |
| Director | Gilles Pollet |
| Academic staff | 274 (60 full-time) |
| Students | 1,300 |
| Location | Lyon, France |
| Campus | Metropolitan |
| Website | www.sciencespo-lyon.fr |
The Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Lyon (or Lyon Institute of Political Studies) also known as Sciences Po Lyon, was established following an executive decree by General de Gaulle in 1946. This prestigious and highly selective institute is modeled on the former Paris "École Libre des Sciences Politiques" (ELSP). Like the other Sciences Po (instituts d'études politiques) in France (Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Paris, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse), it is considered as a French "Grande École" or elite school.
Sciences Po Lyon is an autonomous body within the University of Lyon[1]. It is located at the Centre Berthelot within the buildings of a former military college. Its coat of arms is a lion, reminding force and the City of Lyon.
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Sciences Po Lyon currently offers a 5 year long programme (with a three year long undergraduate programme and a two year graduate programme in line with the Bologna Process)and delivers its main diploma equivalent to a master's degree. Student selection is based on grades obtained in the French baccalauréat (the examination taken at the end of secondary school) and at a competitive written examination (acceptance/selection rate is currently around 10%), which is co-organized with five other institutes, respectively in Aix-en-Provence, Lille, Rennes, Strasbourg, and Toulouse. Selected students can then decide in which of these six institutes they will enrol.
The first two years are aimed at giving students a multidisciplinary background, primarily focusing on social sciences such as economics, public law, contemporary history, philosophy, sociology and public policy. Additionally, students need to study at least two foreign languages, such as English, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Italian, or Russian. During their third year at Sciences Po, students can decide either to do a year-long internship or to pursue their studies abroad, at one of 160 partner universities. Amongst these universities are Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, University of Oregon, Portland State University, University of California in the United States, McGill University and HEC Montreal in Canada, the Universities of Reading, Edinburgh, Loughborough University, University of Manchester, Newcastle University and Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, the Free University of Berlin in Germany, the University of Vienna in Austria, the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain, the University of Waseda in Japan, the Shanghai International Studies University in China, and the University of Melbourne in Australia. In 2006-2007, 240 students from Sciences Po were studying abroad, while 180 foreign students were enroled at the Institute.
The last two years provide students with further specialization in a wide range of specialties:
Social life at Sciences Po is very active with several student associations such as the "Association des Anciens Eleves de l'IEP de Lyon" (Alumni association)[2], "le Bureau des Etudiants" (BDE, Students' Committee), "Déclic" (photography), "Melting Sciences Pot" (aimed at welcoming foreign students) "Comequi" (aimed at promoting fair trade), "La Fanfaraon" (Brass band) or "Bobinophile" (for movie fans). Several student papers have also been created such as La Mâche (philosophy and poetry), Po Go (music and night life)[3] or L'Ecornifleur (political news), the latter being in partnership with nationwide print media such as L'Express [4].It is also worth mentioning the Rugby club, called GPRC, which has hold a growing role in the social life at Sciences Po.
Along with the Université Lumière-Lyon 2, the IEP Lyon hosts the "Centre de Politologie de Lyon ("CERIEP"[5]), a CNRS research department on politology [6]. In addition to its master programmes, Sciences Po offers a PhD programme in political sciences and participates in research and study programs with the support of national partner institutions such as the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council, one of the richest in France. More recently, Sciences Po has established a research group named Triangle, in joint cooperation with the CNRS, the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon and Lyon Lumiere University ([7]).
Sciences Po Lyon is currently working on its international recognition and expanding its network of partner universities abroad. In order to gain greater visibility overseas, its publications will be labeled under the publications of the University of Lyon. The latter is grouping the main universities and colleges in Lyon [8] in order to rapidly appear on the top list of Shanghai University's ranking of world universities.