École normale supérieure de Lyon


The École normale supérieure de Lyon is a French public graduate school. Like its counterparts, this grande école is devoted to research and education, training teachers, professors, scientists and some public administrators.
The school is composed of two academic units—Arts and Sciences—with campuses near the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône. ENSL's students usually enjoy a special civil servant status in the wake of highly competitive exams, providing they pursue careers in public service. Although it maintains extensive connections with the University of Lyon and external research institutions, including the CNRS, the school remains independent. According to 2016 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, ENSL was the 5th best "small university" in the world.

History

Training teachers for normal schools

L'École normale supérieure de Lyon is the descendant of two top educational institutions founded by Jules Ferry:
Recruiting among the most brilliant French students, these two schools used to train the future professors of the French normal schools. Whereas these schools were largely regarded as meritocratic, their sisters - the eldest, l'École Normale Supérieure de la Rue d'Ulm, and her feminine counterpart, l'École normale supérieure de jeunes filles de Sèvres -, which trained academics, were de facto dedicated to the heirs of the Parisian elites.

A shift towards secondary and higher education

Following the decline of normal schools and a reform of national education, the decree of February 19, 1945 granted both institutions the title of Écoles normales préparatoires à l'enseignement secondaire. The Schools' purpose changed in the context of a secondary system democratisation. By 1956, the length of studies was increased to four years in order to institute a preparation for the agrégation - a prestigious teaching qualification. Increasingly opening up to research, they aligned their development strategies with those of the ENS Ulm and Sèvres.

The relocation in Lyon

As part of France's process of decentralisation, the Schools' scientific departments moved in 1987 to Gerland, a former Lyon's industrial district, in the premises of the current Monod campus. The relocated institution was named ENS Lyon.
Humanities students remained in the Paris region within the coeducational École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud. In 2000, this school, informally renamed École normale supérieure lettres et sciences humaines, was transferred to the new Descartes Campus also located in Gerland.
On the first of January 2010, the two branches merged to become a single institution, retaining the name École normale supérieure de Lyon.

Departments

Teaching at the ENS de Lyon is organised through eleven main departments, spread over the two campuses:

Monod Campus: Natural and Experimental Sciences Departments

23 of ENSL's research groups have contractual ties to major research organizations, notably the CNRS and INSERM. ENSL is a member of several advanced research networks and competitive clusters, including Lyon BioPôle, and hosts an Institute for Advanced Study, the Collegium de Lyon.

Sciences

Normaliens-élèves

ENSL retains its close links to the classes préparatoires which prepare high-level students - previously selected on the basis of their academic record - for the competitive entrance examination that is taken after two years of pluridisciplinary undergraduate-level study.
Students who succeed in the entrance examinations, which attract some 6000 candidates for 228 positions, are known as normaliens-élèves; those who are from France or another European Union country are considered trainee public servants, and receive a salary for their studies during 4 years. A second entrance examination is also open to students who have not gone through the classes préparatoires system.
In return of their salary, they have to serve in public services for 10 years.

Normaliens-étudiants

Entry to ENSL is not restricted to normaliens-élèves. Students may also apply through a separate admissions process based on academic prowess. The normaliens-étudiants are not public servants, but their formation and diploma are the same as those of the normaliens-élèves.

Auditeurs de masters

An auditeur de master is someone who has been admitted at the ENSL at the master level. By opposition to the normaliens-élèves and the normaliens-étudiants, they don't have the title of Normalien and are just eligible to a master's degree. They can't obtain the ENSL diploma.

Studies

First year

Students prepare the third year of Licence, the equivalent of a UK Bachelor's degree.
The ENS de Lyon offers numerous courses which are conceived as preparations for Masters.

Second and third years

Students prepare in two years their Master's degree. 5 research Masters are proposed in Sciences, 36 in Humanities.

Fourth year

During this year, students can prepare the agrégation teacher recruitment examination in 16 different subjects.
Students can also start their PhD, go studying for one year or more in a foreign country, or follow during one year courses in other subjects.

Gap years

Between the first and fourth year, normaliens can also spend up to 2 free years called années sans solde, during which they can study other disciplines or do a long internship, sometimes in foreign countries. Each année sans solde project needs the approval of the ENSL supervisors.

Doctoral studies

The ENS de Lyon welcomes over 400 PhD students from all over the world. Normaliens can apply to specific doctoral contracts, as long as the thesis is undertaken within a French research institution.

Rankings

The 2016 QS World University Rankings ranked ENSL 177th university in the world.
However, international rankings do not suit well the French academic system, where research organizations are often independent from universities. Moreover, the ENS are small institutions favouring education quality rather than research productivity. For instance, some French universities are better ranked than the ENS, even though the different écoles normales supérieures are considered to be among the highest French academic institutions due to their endowment, prestige and selectivity.