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Grandes écoles
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The Grandes écoles ("Graduate schools", literally in French "Grand Schools" or "Elite Schools") of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities system. Unlike French public universities which have an obligation to accept all candidates of the same region who hold a Baccalauréat, the selection criteria of Grandes écoles rests mainly on competitive written and oral exams, undertaken by students of dedicated preparatory classes.
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The Grandes écoles ("Graduate schools", literally in French "Grand Schools" or "Elite Schools") of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities system. Unlike French public universities which have an obligation to accept all candidates of the same region who hold a Baccalauréat, the selection criteria of Grandes écoles rests mainly on competitive written and oral exams, undertaken by students of dedicated preparatory classes. They do not have a large student body (3,000 at the largest establishment; most have a few hundred students each year) and are generally focused on a single subject area, mainly engineering, business or humanities. They have traditionally produced most of France's high ranking civil servants, politicians and executives as well as many scientists and philosophers.
Classification as Grandes Écoles
Origins
After the French Revolution
The expression "Grandes écoles" came after the French revolution, in 1794 with the creation of the École Polytechnique by the mathematician Gaspard Monge and Lazare Carnot. In fact, the model was probably Mézières' military academy of which Gaspard Monge was an alumnus. It should be noted that some schools included in the category are older than the expression. For example the École des Ponts et Chaussées, the École Nationale Supérieure des Techniques Avancées and the École d'Arts et Métiers were founded during the 18th century. Other prestigious schools such as the Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC Paris), the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures (Centrale Paris), the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP-EAP) and the École supérieure d'électricité (Supélec) were established during the 19th century.
Since then France has had a unique higher education system, where small and middle size specialized schools are totally cut off the university system yet fully integrated within the national education system. Some fields of study are nearly exclusive to one system, like engineering in the Grandes écoles, or medicine in universités.
Today
There is no standard definition nor official list of Grandes écoles. Legislation involving Grandes écoles generally uses the term "Classe Préparatoire aux Grandes Écoles". The term "Grandes écoles" is not employed in the Code of Education, with the exception of a quotation in the social statistics. It generally employs the expression of "Écoles supérieures" to indicate higher educational establishments which are not universities.
The Conférence des Grandes Écoles (Grandes Écoles Confederation) is a non-profit organization (under the French law 1901). It uses a rather broad definition of the concept of "Grandes écoles", not restricted to the school's selectivity or the prestige of the diploma. The list of the members of CGE does not draw up an official or even an "accepted" list of "Grandes écoles". For example some engineering school members of the CGE cannot deliver state recognized engineering degrees.
Methods of recruitment for the Grandes écoles
The methods of recruitment are the main difference between Grandes écoles and French universités. Public universities are forced by law to admit any student with the Baccalauréat and living within the university's area.
The methods of recruitment may be very different from one school to another. Certain schools are reserved for French citizens, while others have been so until recently. Here are the main three scenarios:
Preparatory classes to the Grandes écoles (CPGE)
Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles (CPGE) or Prépas literally Preparatory classes for the Grandes Écoles, sometimes nicknamed the "royal way," because it's the only way to get into the most prestigious schools.
The preparatory classes, either in literature, sciences or management (generally two or three years) is the traditional way to enter the most prestigious Grandes écoles. Most of them are in state high schools; there are a few private preparatory classes but they are expensive. Admission in preparatory classes are based on an academic report.
Many students register in more than one class to maximize their chance of admission. Some of these classes are very selective and successful at placing students into the top schools.
The workload is generally very high and in-class competition between students is encouraged in some schools. Some classes may be psychologically stressful (depending on the students and the teachers' behaviour), and some students give up before the completion of their studies. The goal of preparatory classes is to prepare the student to match the academic level expected to pass the competitive recruitment examination of the main Grandes écoles. If the student is not admitted to a Grande École, they are given the option of repeating the last year of preparatory classes and attempting the exam the following year.
Preparatory classes do not give any degrees, however they give ECTS (ie university equivalence) since academic year 2008-2009 and students who decide to can carry on their studies at university.
There are five main categories of Prépas:
- Mathématiques Supérieures, Mathematic and Scientific themed preparatory class. These prepare for the engineering schools and teach mathematics, physics, chemistry, and technology. They are broken down in sub-categories according to the emphasis of their dominants teaching.
- 1st year Mathématiques Supérieures; familiarly called Math Sup or Hypotaupe ; students are known as 1/2 ("un demi")
- 2nd year Mathématiques Spéciales ; familiarly called Math Spé or Taupe ; students are known as "3/2", or "5/2" if they are repeating second year.
There's a story behind those names: the most prestigious of the schools is nicknamed "X", entering a school is known as "integrating" it, thus if you integrate x between 0 and 1, it yields 1/2, between 1 & 2, 3/2 and between 2 & 3, it yields 5/2....
- Lettres humanities preparatory class, exclusively for the Écoles normales supérieures
- 1st year Lettres supérieures; familiarly called Hypokhâgne
- 2nd year Première supérieure; familiarly called Khâgne
- Hypokhâgne B/L, for the Ecole Normale Supérieure but also for the Business Schools and the ENSAE. The particularity of the B/L is the teaching of Mathematics and Economics.
- Prépa Economique et Commerciale mathematics and economics, . They prepare for the competitive entrance exams to the French business schools), and are broken down between Science (mathematics) and Economics tracks.
- 1st year Première Année; students familiarly known as bizuths
- 2nd year Deuxième Année; students familiarly known as carrés (literally: squared) (2nd year students who failed the exam and repeat for another year are known as cubes)
While most students in Taupes and Prépa HEC manage to get admission to a Grande École, there are fewer seats offered to khâgneux and chartistes and most of them will continue their studies within universities.
The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) is a prep course with the main goal of training students for enrollment in a Grande École ; of which the best-known and most prestigious are Lycée Hoche, Lycée privé Sainte-Geneviève, Lycée Louis-Le-Grand, Lycée Henri IV, Lycée Fénelon, Lycée Carnot lycée Stanislas and Lycée Saint-Louis. Admission to the CPGE is usually based on performance during the last two years of high school, called Première and Terminale. The CPGE programs are located within high schools but pertain to tertiary education, which means that each student must have successfully passed their Baccalauréat (or equivalent) to be admitted in CPGE. Each CPGE receives the files of hundreds of applicants worldwide every year during April and May, and selects its new students under its own criteria. A few CPGE programmes, mainly the private CPGEs (which account for 10% of CPGEs), also have an interview process or look at a student's involvement in the community.
CPGE programmes have a nominal duration of two years, but the second year is sometimes repeated once, mostly in the scientific sections, where the student then gains the status of cinq demi ("five halves"), for he was only a trois demi ("three halves") during his first second year. The explanation behind these names is that one coveted engineering school is the Ecole Polytechnique, nicknamed the X (as the mathematical unknown). In French, a student is said to integrate a school when she or he is are allowed to enroll in it. A student is called a 3/2 if he integrates the Ecole Polytechnique between his first and second year of preparatory class since the integral of x from 1 to 2 is 3/2. The same idea is valid for "cinq demi", since the integral of x from 2 to 3 is 5/2. Students enrolled in their second second-year are also called "carrés" (squares), and a few turn to "cubes" for a third and final second-year. These terms probably stem from repeated attempts at applying to "X" (Polytechnique), yielding x2 and x3.
The oldest CPGEs are the scientific ones, which can only be accessed by scientific Bacheliers. Scientific CPGE are called MPSI ("Mathematics, Physics and Engineering Science"), PCSI ("Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering Science") or PTSI ("Physics, Technology, and Engineering Science") in the first year, MP ("Mathematics and Physics"), PSI ("Physics and Engineering Science"), PC ("Physics and Chemistry") or PT ("Physics and Technology") in the second year. The classes which specifically train students for admission to the best engineering schools have an "*" added to their name, e.g. MP*.
First year CPGE students are called the 'Math Sup' - or Hypotaupe - (Sup for "Classe de Mathématiques Supérieures", superior in French, meaning post-high school), and second years 'Math Spé' - or Taupe - (Spés standing for "Classe de Mathématiques Spéciales", special in French). The students of these classes are called Taupins. Both the first and second year programmes include as much as sixteen hours of mathematics teaching per week, ten hours of physics, two hours of philosophy, two to four hours of (one or two) foreign languages teaching and two to three hours of minor options: either SI, Engineering Industrial Science or Theoretical Computer Science (including some programming using the Pascal or Caml Light programming languages, as a practical work). With this is added several hours of homework, which can rise as much as the official hours of class. A known joke among those students is that they are becoming monks for two years. Sometimes three.
The literary and humanities CPGEs have also their own nicknames, Hypokhâgne for the first year and Khâgne for the second year. The students are called the khâgneux. These classes prepare for schools such as Écoles Normales Supérieures, Ecole des Chartes, and sometimes Sciences Po.
There are also CPGE which are focused on economics (who prepare the admission in business schools). These later are known as "Prépa EC" and are split in two parts ("prépa EC spe mathematics" , generally for those who graduated the baccalaureat S and "prépa EC spe éco" , for those who were in the economics section in the lycée.). The most famous of those business schools are HEC School of Management, ESSEC, ESCP-EAP, EM Lyon, EDHEC and ESC Toulouse which propose a Master degree and an MBA.
The students of CPGE are also matriculated in universities, and can rejoin college in case of failure of their grandes écoles ambitions or if they just do not wish to become engineers and feel not able to pass the Écoles Normales Supérieures competitive examinations. The ratio of students who failed to enter grandes écoles is low in the scientifics and economics CPGE, but high in humanities, for the only Grandes Écoles aimed in these classes are the Écoles Normales Supérieures.
The amount of work required of the students is exceptionally high. In addition to class time and homework, students spend several hours each week completing exams and 'colles' (very often written 'khôlles' to look like a Greek word, this way of writing being initially a khâgneux joke). The so called 'colles' are unique to French academic education in CPGEs. They consist of oral examinations twice a week, in maths, physics, French and the foreign languages, usually English and Spanish. Students, usually in groups of three, spend an hour facing a professor alone in a room, answering questions and solving problems. In CPGE littéraires (humanities), the system of 'colles' is different; they are taken every quarter in every subject. Students have one hour to prepare a short presentation that takes the form of a French-style dissertation (a methodologically codified essay, typically structured in 3 parts: thesis, counter-thesis, and synthesis) in history, philosophy, etc. on a given topic, and that of a commentaire composé (a methodologically codified commentary) in literature and foreign languages; as for the Ancient Greek or Latin, they involve a translation and a commentary. The student then has 20 minutes to present his work to the teacher, who ends the session by asking some questions on the presentation and on the corresponding topic. 'Colles' are regarded as extremely stressful, particularly due to the high standards expected by the teachers, and the subsequent harshness that may be directed at students who do not perform adequately, but they are important in as much as they prepare the students, from the very first year, to the oral part of the competitive examination, reserved to the happy few who successfully pass the written part.
Recruitment at Baccalauréat level
Some schools are accessible after a competitive entrance exam directly after the Baccalauréat.
Many of these schools remain highly selective and prestigious, with most former students holding high-ranking positions in the public and private sectors. Often, students of these schools will go on and enter an administrative school, for which they are better prepared than former university students.
Others include a two-year preparatory class directly in their program. These years of preparation are highly focused on the school program so students have a higher chance to succeed in the admission exam or contest in their school, but really lower their chances to succeed in the contest for other schools.
Parallel admission
In many schools, there is also the possibility of “parallel admission” to Grandes écoles. Parallel admissions are open to university students or students from other schools. The Prépas years are not required to sit the entrance exams, provided that the candidates performed well in their previous studies. This method of recruitment is proving increasingly popular, with many students choosing to go first to university and then enroll in a Grande école.
Some Grandes écoles have dual diploma arrangement in which a student can switch establishments in the last year to receive diplomas from both establishments.
Categories
The Grandes écoles can be classified into several broad categories:
Écoles Normales Supérieures
These schools train researchers, professors and may also be a starting point for executive careers in the public administration or business. Many French Nobel Prize or Fields Medal laureates come from the École normale supérieure in Paris (Rue d'Ulm). There are four ENS in total:
Their competitive entrance exams are considered to be extremely selective. They recruit mainly from Taupes, biology Prépas and Khâgnes, even though a small number of their students (less than 10 each year) are recruited separately on the basis of highly selective exams.
Until recently and unlike most of the other Grandes écoles, the Écoles normales supérieures (ENS) did not award any specific diplomas (students who had completed the curriculum they had agreed to with the office of the Dean upon arrival were simply entitled to be known as "ENS Alumni" or "Normaliens"), but they keep encouraging their students to obtain university diplomas in partner institutions whilst providing extra classes and support. Many ENS students obtain more than one university diploma.
The Normaliens, as the students of the several ENS are known, attain a high level of excellence in the various disciplines in which they are trained. Normaliens from France and other European Union countries are considered civil servants in training, and as such paid a monthly salary, in exchange for an agreement to serve France for 10 years, including those of their studies.
Grandes Écoles d'Ingénieurs (Engineering Schools)
Most famous Engineering Schools
There is a broad spectrum of engineering schools, many recruiting after scientific preparatory class. Things may be a bit confusing since many schools have a lengthy official name (often beginning with École nationale supérieure or École supérieure), a shortened name, an acronym and, for the most famous, a nickname (and often a nickname for their students). Most of them are grouped in leagues, like Centrale and Supélec, ParisTech, Mines, the Institut TELECOM (previously Groupe des écoles des télécommunications, GET), the Université de Technologie (UT) in most public universities in all regions of France, etc. Most of them are also joint graduate schools from several regional universities where they are located, sometimes in association with other international higher education networks. They are:
- the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures also called the École centrale Paris (ECP, or simply Centrale Paris) – part of Centrale;
- the École Centrale de Lyon (ECL, EC-Lyon, or Centrale Lyon) part of Centrale Graduate Schools;
- the École Centrale de Lille (ECLi, EC-Lille, or Centrale Lille) part of Centrale Graduate Schools;
- the École Centrale de Nantes (ECN, EC-Nantes, or Centrale Nantes) part of Centrale Graduate Schools;
- the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne (ENSTB, or TELECOM Bretagne), in Brest – part of Institut TELECOM;
- the École supérieure d'électricité (ESE, nicknamed Supélec) in Paris, Gif-sur-Yvette, Rennes, and Metz;
- the Institut supérieur de l'aéronautique et de l'espace (ISAE, merger of two institutes known as Supaéro and ENSICA) in Toulouse;
- the Institut national des sciences appliquées (INSA) network representing the largest engineer training group in France and grouping the most famous grandes écoles of applied technology within regional universities: in Lyon, Rennes, Toulouse, Rouen, and Strasbourg.
- The engineering schools within ParisTech:
Grandes Écoles d'Ingénieur located in France (non-exhaustive list)
Grandes écoles with multiple specialization domains:
- Other "Centrale Graduate Schools": École centrale de Lille, École centrale de Marseille, École centrale de Nantes;
- the other "Écoles des Mines": the ENS des Mines de Saint-Étienne, ENS des Mines de Nancy, the Mines de Douai, the Mines de Nantes, the Mines d'Alès, the Mines d'Albi;
- the "Écoles Nationales Supérieures d'Ingénieurs" (ENSI), whose denomination encompasses about 40 engineering schools (including some listed below);
- the École nationale supérieure d'électronique, d'électrotechnique, d'informatique, d'hydraulique, et de télécommunications (ENSEEIHT, nicknamed N7), which is considered the largest ENSI, with more than 400 graduates every year, and one of the schools of the INP Toulouse;
- the École Nationale Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Caen ();
- the INSA group of écoles: INSA Lyon, INSA Rennes, INSA Rouen, INSA Strasbourg, INSA Toulouse;
- the Institut polytechnique de Grenoble: includes the Grenoble Institute of Technology, and the Grenoble INP (formerly INPG) which has six departments (ENSIMAG, ENSE3,PHELMA, ESISAR, Génie Industriel, Pagora).
Grandes écoles of physics:
Grandes écoles of information technology and telecommunications:
Grandes écoles of applied physics and technology or civil and industrial engeering:
Grandes écoles of biology and natural sciences:
- the other Écoles nationales supérieures d'agronomie (ENSA, nicknamed SupAgro);
- the École nationale supérieure de géologie (ENSG), whose graduates are Géoliens;
Grandes Écoles de Commerce (Management Schools)
Most French business schools are semi-privately run, often by the regional chambers of commerce.
The most prestigious and selective Management schools are the three "Parisiennes", located in the Paris Metropolitan area. There has been talk of merging the three schools in order to give them a higher international visibility. Other schools are found outside Paris, some highly selective, and sometimes compared to the three Parisians (such as EM Lyon, EDHEC and Audencia) :
"Les Trois Parisiennes"
Located in/near Paris, these Écoles compete to admit the best candidates. The order below reflects the number of admissions from most competitive to slightly less competitive:
École des hautes études commerciales (HEC, n°1 in the Financial Times' Ranking of European Business Schools, a member of ParisTech) École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC, the Grande École programme is not ranked in Financial Times' Ranking of European Business Schools, but is ranked as n°7 in Wall Street Journal “Top Business Schools recruiters’ MBA Picks”) ESCP-EAP European School of Management (n°2 in the Financial Times' Ranking of European Business Schools)
The best other schools (according to rankings)
EMLYON) École de Hautes Études Commerciales du Nord (EDHEC) Audencia (Nantes École de Management) Grenoble École de Management (Grenoble-EM) École Supérieure de Commerce de Reims (ESC-Reims) École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen (ESC-Rouen) École Supérieure de Commerce de Toulouse (ESC-Toulouse) BEM Bordeaux Management School (ESC Bordeaux) Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Lille (ESC Lille) Euromed Marseille Ecole de Management (Euromed Marseille School of Management)
Grandes Écoles without Preparatory Classes
Some schools are accessible after a competitive entrance exam directly after the Baccalauréat. They remain highly selective and extremely prestigious in French society, with most former students holding high-ranking positions in the public and private sectors. Often, students of these schools will go on and enter an administrative school, for which they are better prepared than the former university students.
These schools include (non-exhaustive list):
Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (IEP), is the most famous one, located in Paris, popularly called Sciences Po. Other IEPs are found in Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Rennes, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Toulouse. They deliver a generalist program centred around political sciences, history, sociology, economics but also communications, finance, business, urban policy, management, and journalism. the École du Louvre, for archaeology, history of art and anthropology; the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, best-known as "les Beaux-Arts" (for fine arts); the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Versailles (ENSAV), for architecture; the Instituts Nationaux des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) in Lyon, Rennes, Rouen, Strasbourg, Toulouse, delivering diplôme d'ingénieur degrees in 5 years (including 2 preparatory years, the 3 remaining years are also accessible after selection for the best students graduating a first cycle university diploma, or from institutes of technology); the Institut Catholique des Arts et Métiers (ICAM) and École Catholique des Arts et Métiers (ECAM), offering a generalist program based on mechanics and electronics the École Supérieure des Sciences Commerciales d'Angers (ESSCA), delivers various master degrees in 5 years.
Administrative Schools
These schools train students for certain civil service and other public-sector positions. However, some students who undertake studies in these schools do end up working in the private sector.
All these schools are very selective. As an example, the most selective one is the École nationale du patrimoine, which enrolls about 1.5% of its candidates (who already hold a minimum of a master's degree). The ENA is certainly the most famous one, with a large cohort of its alumni joining the government and many having entered the cabinet. To join ENA or ENM, on top of their initial studies, most students follow a one year dedicated training course to succeed (IEJs - Instituts d'études judiciaires, see French law schools -, IEPs - Instituts d'Études Politiques see Sciences Po - or dedicated programs). Most of these schools are reserved for French citizens.
École Nationale d'Administration (), whose alumni are known as énarques and generally take up high-level management positions in government, ministries, political parties and institutions; École Nationale de la Magistrature (), which trains magistrates; École Nationale des Impôts (), which translates as "National Tax School"; École Nationale du Patrimoine (), which trains curators; École Nationale Supérieure de Police (), i.e. national police force school; "École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique" (), trains managers of hospitals and other leaders and technical experts in health care;
Military Officer Academies
While École Polytechnique, also known as X is run by the Ministry of Defence and its French students are reserve officers in training, it is no longer formally denominated as a military academy. A small number of its students do however embrace a military career afterwards. A large proportion of its students end up working for the State's technical administrations.
École Spéciale Militaire de St Cyr (it used to be located in Saint-Cyr l'École but is now in Coëtquidan in Brittany) is the Army Academy. Nicknamed Cyr and whose graduates and students are Cyrards; The École de l'Air (EA) is the Air Force Academy, located in Salon de Provence. Nicknamed Salon and whose graduates and students are Zizis; the École Navale (EN), nicknamed Navale and whose graduates and students are Bordaches;
Influence in French culture
Some Grandes écoles are very prestigious, providing similar status to their graduates in France as Oxbridge in the UK or the Ivy League schools in the U.S, although of course their admission policies have differed. The top rated schools are truly elitist: the students of the top Grandes écoles equal to around 1% of French higher education nationwide are accepted and fewer than 5,000 students graduate from them every year.
-This dozen of schools, which the French praise for being "généralistes", i.e., interdisciplinary, have traditionally produced most of France's high ranking civil servants, politicians and executives and many scientists and philosophers.
See also
External links
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- , which is an association of directors of higher educational establishments with selective admission.
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