École normale supérieure

The École normale supérieure (ENS) is an elite higher education institution (graduate school) for advanced undergraduate and graduate studies, and a prestigious French research center. It encompasses fourteen teaching and research departments, spanning the main humanities, sciences and disciplines. Unique among France’s grandes écoles for its training in the humanities and sciences, the ENS prepares its students for their role as future leaders in every imaginable professional field: in research, media, public service and private industry.

École normale supérieure

The École normale supérieure has a highly competitive recruitment process. For most international students, this includes a selection by written application, usually presented during the last year of undergraduate study, and which highlights the candidate’s intellectual promise, creativity and desire to complete an original and independent project.

In addition to a master’s and doctoral degree, students are awarded an ENS Diploma, which attests to the excellence of the intellectual and scientific training received at the  ENS. Campus life is a distinctive feature of the École normale supérieure. Students not only study there, but also live in campus residences, primarily located in the heart of the historic and vibrant Quartier Latin with easy access to the ENS libraries, restaurants, and leisure facilities.

The École normale supérieure is at once a grande école, due to its selective recruitment process, and a research university. As a central actor in the training of French elites for more than two centuries, it has nourished the majority of the great intellectual movements of the 20th century and has considerably widened the scope of French scientific influence. The impressive achievements made possible through the training it dispenses, distinguish the École normale supérieure from all other French establishments of higher learning. Former students include all eight French winners of the Fields Medal, twelve Nobel Prize winners and half of the recipients the CNRS Gold Medal.

Library
The primary mission of the ENS libraries is to accompany students through the duration of their research-based training at the École normale supérieure. This mission is accompanied by a vocation to assist research, at the graduate level and beyond, with information culled from high-level, general collections that include several exceptional, specialized archives in mathematics, classical sciences, and German philosophy.

École normale supérieure

Courses Offered
Undergraduate Programs

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Cognitives Sciences
• Computer Science
• Theorical and Applied Mathematiques
• Physics
• Geosciences
• History
• Art History and Theory
• Geography
• Literature et Languages
• Philosophy
• Classics
• Social Sciences
• Graduate Programs
• MBA
• Doctoral Programs

Departments

• Department of Physics Doctoral Program
• Department of Social Sciences Doctoral Programs

Contact Details
École normale supérieure
BP 6983, Paris
ÃŽle-de-France
Tel: +33 (0)1 44 32 30 00
Fax: +33 (0)1 44 32 20 99
École normale supérieure official Website: http://www.ens.fr/