Top 50 UNIVERSITIES in the World – No.33

 

33. École Normale Supérieure de Paris (ENS Paris)

Location: École normale supérieure, 45, rue d'Ulm, F-75230 Paris cedex 05

History

The École normale supérieure was created in Paris in 1794, during the French Revolution, to train the nation's future teachers according to the critical and secular spirit of the new Republic. In 1847, the École normale supérieure moved to its current location on rue d'Ulm, on the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève near the Sorbonne and the Collège de France.

Early on, the École normale supérieure became home to elite research. In the mid-19th century, Louis Pasteur carried out his pioneering work within its walls. For decades, the ENS has been the most prestigious site of French intellectual and scientific life. It participated in all the great intellectual debates of modern France and educated entire generations of high-ranking civil servants and politicians, scientists and entrepreneurs, and provided intellectual training for Nobel laureates, Fields Medal winners and intellectual luminaries like Sartre, Foucault, Lacan and Derrida.

Not content to rest on its laurels, the ENS continues its fundamental mission of training its students to the role of leaders capable of bringing their creative vision and innovative solutions to bear on the increasingly complex and global issues of today's world. It does this through its dedication to assembling the world's most distinguished experts to teach its students to conduct pioneering research that transcends the traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Courses offered

Each department of the ENS offers courses to students during the undergrad, under the responsibility of the department's Director and its Director of Studies.

ENS master's programmes are run in association with partner institutions -- the Paris universities, the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, the École pratique des hautes études -- or another institution with which the ENS has an agreement.

At the École normale supérieure, doctoral studies are considered the last stage of research-based instruction, allowing students to delve even deeper into their field of knowledge, to master the art of research project management, and to continue to cultivate a creative and innovative outlook.

Admission procedure/cycle (month/date)

The ENS recruits its students by way of a very competitive admission exam, or upon application on the basis of written records. Students are indeed selected according to the quality of their academic history, the depth of their knowledge, and their openness to innovation and creativity. The ENS seeks inventive, brilliant minds. National diplomas (masters and PhD) as well as the ENS' own diploma are issued at the term of the studies. For details, refer to the university's website.

Presence in India

At the very heart of the École normale supérieure's training and research strategies lies a network of historic international partnerships, to which important new affiliations are continually added.

All overseas initiatives are based on disciplinary and historical interests and have clear geographic priorities: Europe, Anglo-American regions and emerging countries (China, India, and Brazil). Among emerging countries, projects are in development with India, Brazil, West Africa and Iran, which continues to offer outstanding candidates, despite a geopolitical reality that makes obtaining a visa difficult.