Ecole normale supérieure (ENS)

The tradition of Écoles normales supérieures dates back to the Decree of the 9 Brumaire AN III (1794) which led to the creation of the first ENS, dedicated to the training of educators who would train future teachers. This symbolic date can be found on the pediment of ENS in rue d’Ulm in Paris.

The ENS gives priority to fundamental knowledge and combines in-depth study in a discipline with familiarity in many other disciplines. The richness, diversity and organisation of the training fields, gathered in 15 departments for training and research in Sciences and Humanities, allow students to explore the boundaries of their disciplines and to develop intellectual approaches with a strong interdisciplinarity. 

The ENS enhances students’ autonomy with individual tutoring: all students draw up their individual study programme while being advised and guided by a tutor (agrégé répétiteur, teacher-researcher or researcher), so that they can make their choice among a large training offer. 

The research conducted at the Ecole normale supérieure are fundamental, theoretical or experimental, and may also lead to breakthrough innovations. When innovation becomes an invention, the issue at stake consists in finding, for each one, the suitable technology transfer: a transfer to an industrial partner who will convert the technology at stake into a product and place it on the market, or, ideally, the creation of a start-up exploiting this technology, when the context is favourable. Through specific and targeted awareness-raising actions and with some local support of quality, the ENS aims at creating an environment conducive to the emergence of projects springing from the whole ENS community.