| École nationale d'administration | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1945 |
| Type | Public |
| Admin. staff | 229 |
| Undergraduates | 0 |
| Postgraduates | 533 students |
| Location | Strasbourg, France |
| Website | www.ena.fr |
The École Nationale d'Administration (ÉNA; French pronunciation: [ekɔl nasjɔnal dadministʁasjɔ̃]; English: National School of Administration), one of the most prestigious of French graduate schools (Grandes écoles), was created in 1945 by Charles de Gaulle to democratise access to the senior civil service. It is now entrusted with the selection and initial training of senior French officials. The ENA is one of the symbols of the Republican meritocracy, along with École Normale Supérieure and Ecole Polytechnique ("X"), offering its alumni access to high positions within the state. It has now been almost completely relocated in Strasbourg to emphasise its European character.
The ENA produces around 100 graduates every year, known as énarques (IPA: [enaʁk]). ENA is seen as the method of choice to reach the great administrative corps of the State.
The ENA is often compared to the College of Europe in Belgium, with which it shares several traditions.
Contents |
The main reason for entering ENA is that it has a legal quasi-monopoly over access to some of the most prestigious positions in the French civil service (the École Polytechnique fulfills this role for other prestigious and technical positions, while some schools like the École Nationale des Impôts allow access to very specific positions). The school was created in a move to make the recruitment for various high administrative bodies more rational and democratic. By having a system solely based on academic proficiency and competitive examinations, the reasoning went, recruitment to top positions could be made more transparent, without suspicion of political or personal preference.
French law makes it relatively easy for civil servants to enter politics: civil servants who are elected or appointed to a political position do not have to resign their position in the civil service; instead, they are put in a situation of "temporary leave" known as disponibilité. If they are not re-elected or reappointed, they may ask for their reintegration into their service (see Lionel Jospin and Philippe Séguin for examples). In addition, ENA graduates are often recruited as aides by government ministers and other politicians; this makes it easier for some of them to enter a political career. As an example, Dominique de Villepin entered politics as an appointed official, after serving as an aide to Jacques Chirac, without ever having held an elected position.
The énarques were criticised as early as the 1960s for their technocratic and arrogant ways. Young énarque Jacques Chirac was, for instance, lampooned in an album of the Asterix series. Such criticism has continued up to present times, with the énarques being accused of monopolizing positions in higher administration and politics, without having to show real efficiency. It has become a recurrent theme for many French politicians to criticise ENA, even when they themselves are alumni of the school.
John Kenneth Galbraith and Pierre Bourdieu have studied the way this school shapes French industry and politics. The key point is that these "enarques" benefit from two main privileges: not only do they have a monopoly of the top administrative positions within the civil service, but also they can go into politics and industry without risk.
However, only a small proportion of "enarques" (around 10%) actually get involved in politics. Most ENA alumni hold neutral, technical positions in the French civil service.
ENA also participates in international Technical Assistance programmes, funded by the EU or other donors.
Entrance to ENA is granted on a competitive exam at the beginning of September, which people generally take after completing studies at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (more widely known as Sciences Po). The "concours externe" exam is in two parts :
Results of this exam process are published by the end of December.
Other exam processes govern admission for career civil servants (concours interne) and for all other people, already active in business, political or union activities (troisième concours).
ENA ranks students according to their academic merit; students are then asked, in order of decreasing merit, the service that they want to join. While the top-ranked join prestigious corps such as the Inspection Générale des Finances, Conseil d'État or Cour des Comptes, other will join e.g. the diplomatic service, ministries, and administrative justice or préfectures. Eventually, some enter national politics, while many end up in high-level administrative positions. To quote ENA's site:
Academic years at ENA are known as promotions, and are named by the students after outstanding French (Vauban, Saint-Exupéry, Rousseau), Foreigners (Mandela), characters (Cyrano de Bergerac), battles (Valmy), concepts (Croix de Lorraine, Droits de l'homme) or values (liberté-égalité-fraternité).
ENA shares this tradition with the College of Europe in Belgium.
According to an international classification, the École nationale d'administration ranks ninth among higher education institutions in the world, with regard to the performance of their training programmes, based on the number of alumni among the Chief Executive Officers of the 500 leading worldwide companies.[1]
Since its creation 60 years ago, the ENA has trained 5600 French senior officials and 2600 foreigners. Some famous alumni include:
Mines Paris Tech, 2007, PROFESSIONAL RANKING OF WORLD UNIVERSITIES