Écoles normales supérieures

An école normale supérieure (French pronunciation: ​[ekɔl nɔʁmal sypeʁjœʁ]) or ENS is a type of publicly funded higher education in France. A portion of the student body who are French civil servants are called Normaliens. They are selected by a difficult examination, with only 3% of candidates eventually admitted. ENS also offers master's degrees. They could be compared to "Institutes for Advanced Studies" and constitute the top level of research-training education in the French university system.

The history of écoles normales supérieures goes back to 30 October 1794 (9 brumaire an III), when École normale de l'an III was established during the French Revolution. The school was subsequently reestablished as pensionnat normal from 1808 to 1822, before being recreated in 1826 and taking the name of École normale in 1830. When institutes for primary teachers training called écoles normales were created in 1845, the word supérieure (meaning upper) was added to form the current name.

The Savary Law of 1984 restructured higher education in France and classified écoles normales supérieures within Établissement public à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel. As of January 2014, there are four ENS: the École Normale Supérieure located in Paris, the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon located in Lyon, the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay in Cachan near Paris and the École Normale Supérieure de Rennes near Rennes.

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