Grande école


A grande école is a specialized top-level educational institution in France and some other countries such as Morocco and Tunisia. Grandes écoles are part of an alternative educational system that operates alongside the mainstream French public university system, and are dedicated to teaching, research and professional training in either pure natural and social sciences, or applied sciences such as engineering, architecture, business administration, or public policy and administration.
Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, the Golden Triangle in the UK, Designated National Universities in Japan and C9 League in China, Grandes écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process. Grandes écoles primarily admit students based on their national ranking in written and oral exams called concours, which are organized annually by the French Ministry of Education. While anyone can register for concours, successful candidates have almost always completed two or three years of dedicated preparatory classes prior to admission.
As they are separate from universities, most of them do not deliver the undergraduate degree of the Licence or the university master's degree, but deliver :
Admission to the grandes écoles is extremely selective. Grandes écoles are generally publicly funded and therefore have limited tuition costs. Some, especially business schools and specialized schools, are organised privately and therefore have more costly tuition.

Classification of ''grandes écoles''

Origins

The term grande école originated in 1794 after the French Revolution, when the National Convention created the École normale supérieure, the mathematicians Gaspard Monge and Lazare Carnot created the École centrale des travaux publics, and the abbot Henri Grégoire created the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers.

École du génie militaire de Mézières

The model was probably the military academy at Mézières, of which Monge was an alumnus. The selective admission opens up to higher education based on academic merit.
Some schools included in the category have roots in the 17th and 18th centuries and are older than the term grande école, which dates to 1794. Their forerunners were schools aimed at graduating civil servants, such as technical officers, mine supervisors, bridge and road engineers, and shipbuilding engineers.
Five military engineering academies and graduate schools of artillery were established in the 17th century in France, such as the école de l'artillerie de Douai and the later école du génie de Mézières, wherein mathematics, chemistry and sciences were already a major part of the curriculum taught by first-rank scientists such as Pierre-Simon Laplace, Charles Étienne Louis Camus, Étienne Bézout, Sylvestre-François Lacroix, Siméon Denis Poisson, Gaspard Monge.
In 1802, Napoleon created the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, which is also considered a grande école, although it trains only army officers.
During the 19th century, a number of higher-education grandes écoles were established to support industry and commerce, such as École nationale supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne in 1816, École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, L'institut des sciences et industries du vivant et de l'environnement in 1826, and École centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1829.
During the latter part of the 19th century and in the 20th century, more grandes écoles were established for education in businesses as well as newer fields of science and technology, including Rouen Business School in 1871, Sciences Po Paris in 1872, École nationale supérieure des télécommunications in 1878, Hautes Études commerciales in 1881, École supérieure d'électricité in 1894, Ecole des hautes Etudes commerciales du Nord in 1906, Ecole Supérieure des Sciences économiques et commerciales in 1907, and Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace (SUPAERO) in 1909.
Since then, France has had a unique dual higher education system, with small and middle-sized specialized graduate schools operating alongside the traditional university system. Some fields of study are nearly exclusive to one part of this dual system, such as medicine in universités only, or architecture in écoles only.
The grande école system also exists in former French colonies, Switzerland, and Italy. The influence of this system was strong in the 19th century throughout the world, as can be seen in the original names of many world universities. The success of the German and Anglo-Saxon university models from the late 19th century reduced the influence of the French system in some of the English-speaking world.

Today

There is no standard definition or official list of grandes écoles. The term grande école is not employed in the French education code, with the exception of a quotation in the social statistics. It generally employs the expression of "écoles supérieures" to indicate higher educational institutions that are not universities.
The Conférence des grandes écoles (CGE) is a non-profit organization. It uses a broad definition of grande école, which is not restricted to the school's selectivity or the prestige of the diploma awarded. The members of CGE have not made an official or "accepted" list of grandes écoles. For example, some engineering school members of the CGE cannot award state-recognized engineering degrees.

Admission to ''grandes écoles''

The admissions process for grandes écoles differs greatly from those of other French universities. To be admitted into most French grandes écoles, most students study in a two-year preparatory program in one of the CPGEs before taking a set of competitive national exams. Different exams are required by groups of different schools. The national exams are sets of written tests, given over the course of several weeks, that challenge the student on the intensive studies of the previous two years. During the summer, those students who succeed in the written exams then take a further set of exams, usually one-hour oral exams, during which they are given a problem to solve. After 20 minutes of preparation, the candidate presents the solution to a professor, who challenges the candidate on the answer and the assumptions being made. Afterwards, candidates receive a final national ranking, which determines admission to their grande école of choice.

Preparatory classes for grandes écoles (CPGE)

Classes préparatoires aux Grandes Écoles, or prépas, are two-year classes, in either sciences, literature, or economics. These are the traditional way in which most students prepare to pass the competitive recruitment examination of the main grandes écoles. Most are held in state lycées ; a few are private. Admission is competitive and based on the students' lycée grades. Preparatory classes with the highest success rates in the entrance examinations of the top grandes écoles are highly selective. Students who are not admitted to the grande école of their choice often repeat the second year of preparatory classes and attempt the exam again the following year.
There are five categories of prépas:
  • Scientifiques: 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 dominant subject: they are mainly focused on mathematics and either physics, industrial sciences and technologies, physics and chemistry, physics and engineering science, physics and technology and chemistry, physics and technology .
  • BCPST: biology, chemistry, physics, geology, and mathematics. Commonly called "Agro-Véto", these classes prepare students primarily for agricultural and veterinary schools, but also for schools in geology, hydrology, and forestry, as well as for research and teaching careers via the Écoles normales supérieures.
  • Lettres: humanities, essentially for the Écoles normales supérieures. There are two main sub-categories: "Lettres", in either "A/L" or LSH, and B/L.
  • Économique et commerciale: mathematics and economics. These prepare for the entrance exams to the French business schools, and are subdivided between science and economics tracks - a third track also exists for students with a "technological", i.e. applied background.
  • Chartes: humanities, with an emphasis on philology, history and languages, named after the school École nationale des Chartes. By far the smallest prépa in number of students.

Recruitment at ''baccalauréat'' level

Some schools are accessible after a selection based on the grades of the two last years of lycée and/or the baccalaureate results. For example, in engineering, the most attractive and selective ones are the seven schools composing the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, but there are dozens of selective and less selective engineering schools accessible directly after the baccalaureate. Some other famous highly selective engineering school are the three Universités de Technologie. It is also possible to join these schools in third year after a preparatory class or university and then the recruitment is based on a contest or the student results.
Most of these five-year grandes écoles are public, with very low admission fees, and are free for national scholarship holders. A few others are either private or public with very high admission fee. These are usually the least selective ones and offer five-year training to students who otherwise could not have enrolled in a five-year curriculum directly after High school.
The top three public engineering grandes écoles with standard admission fees, according to the French magazine L'Étudiant noir, are in 2023 the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse and École des Mines de Douai. However, the rankings may differ significantly between years, magazines, and the metric of interest.
Most of them simply include the two-year preparatory class in their program while others like INSA Toulouse chose the Bachelor's master's doctorate system to start the specialization earlier. Most students choose to get their licence, master or doctorate close to home.
These years of preparation can be highly focused on the school program so students have a greater chance of succeeding in the admission exam or contest in their school if there is one, but they are not prepared to take the examinations for other schools so their chance of success in these other examinations is low.
The advantage is that instead of studying simply to pass the admission exams, the student will study topics more targeted to their training and future specialization. The main advantage is that students choose their speciality more according to their interests and less according to their rank..
On another note, the selection process during the first preparatory year is considered less stressful than in a standard first preparatory class, and the first year often offers broader scientific training since it does not specifically prepare students for competitions. Nevertheless, the selection percentage are often the same order as during standard preparatory classes. The top-ranking five year grandes écoles also recruit some of the best students who followed one or two years of CPGE, through parallel admission procedures.

Parallel admission

The prépa years are not required to sit the entrance exams. Moreover, in many schools, there is also the possibility of "parallel admission" to a grande école. Parallel admissions are open to university students or students from other schools that decide not to take the entrance exams. This method of recruitment is proving increasingly popular, with many students choosing to first go to a university and then enroll in a grande école.
Some grandes écoles have a dual diploma arrangement in which a student can switch establishments in the last year to receive diplomas from both establishments.

Degrees awarded

Historically

The French Grandes écoles mostly do not fit into the international, Anglo-American framework regarding their diplomas, nor in the European Bologna system. In 2007, the OECD remarked in a report that "their diplomas do not fit easily into the increasingly standardised international nomenclature for academic study... Instead, students effectively study for five years and are then awarded a masters degree, with no intermediate diploma".
However, some Grandes écoles have decided to adopt the standard, European Bologna system of diplomas recently in order to better integrate themselves in the international academic competition. In their 2008 book European Universities in Transition, Carmelo Mazza, Paolo Quattrone and Angelo Riccaboni underlined that "the vast majority of Grandes Ecoles do not give any degree" upon completion of undergraduate studies, but that "n practice, for accreditation or student exchange purposes, they grant a certificate of 'equivalence to a bachelor's degree'".
Examples of Grande École diplomas, which are neither bachelor's degrees nor university master's degrees, but which are accredited diplomas awarding a bachelor's and master's degree:

In engineering ''Grandes écoles''

For their engineering programs, the Grandes écoles award an "Diplôme d'Ingénieur", similar to a Master of Engineering degree. This engineer's degree, required to use the engineer title in France, is strictly protected and can only be awarded by state-accredited Grandes écoles, via the Engineering Accreditation Commission.

In ''Grandes écoles'' business schools

In France, the majority of business schools are private or semi-private. For their programs, business schools that are Grandes écoles offer a "Programme Grande École" or "PGE", which delivers a state-accredited diploma that is considerably more prestigious than a French master's degree in management delivered by university schools of management or management faculties in the mainstream French university system.
In France, only public Grandes écoles and universities can award licences, masters and doctorates. For example, the semi-private ESCP Business School has signed a partnership agreement to award a PhD in management from Panthéon-Sorbonne University. The semi-private school HEC has done the same, along with the Polytechnic Institute of Paris.
Example:

Faculty in ''Grandes écoles''

Full-time researchers and teaching faculty

Full-time faculty researchers to assume their responsibility as teaching staff by giving lectures, accompanying students in their projects, participating in the campus life and representing the school during symposia.
Their contractual number of working hours is defined at the beginning of each academic year in a lump sum workload timetable.
Full-time faculty/teaching are in charge of giving lectures, but also shoulder pedagogic coordination. As such, they are deeply involved in their respective campus' life and accountable for the teaching quality as well as the pedagogic continuous improvement of the School.
Prominent professors: according to L'Etudiant, a prominent professor is permanent professor, holding a PhD from a French or foreign Higher Education Institution which is AACSB- or EQUIS-accredited and ranked amongst the Shanghai 2019 top 500 ranking.

Adjunct professors

Adjunct Professors hold chair in another Higher Education Institution. Their teaching conditions are various, but not always stipulated in a contractual form.
Visiting professors are teaching staff which hold a chair along another activity, e.g. a consultant or entrepreneur giving lectures once or twice a week.
Guest professors are international professors who take part in special lectures, classes or programme.

Categories

Grandes écoles can be classified into following broad categories:

Écoles normales supérieures

These schools train researchers and professors and may be a beginning for executive careers in public administration or business. Many French Nobel Prize and Fields Medal laureates were educated at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, Lyon or Paris-Saclay. There are four ENS:
Until recently, unlike most other grandes écoles, écoles normales supérieures did not award specific diplomas. Students who completed their curriculum were entitled to be known as "ENS alumni" or "normaliens". The schools encourage their students to obtain university diplomas in partner institutions while providing extra classes and support. Many ENS students obtain more than one university diploma. Normaliens from France and other European Union countries are considered civil servants in training, and as such are paid a monthly salary in exchange for agreeing to serve France for ten years, including those years spent as students.

Engineering schools (''grandes écoles d'ingénieurs'')

Many engineering schools recruit most of their students who have completed their education in scientific preparatory classes. Many are also joint graduate schools from several regional universities, sometimes in association with other international higher education networks.
In France, the term 'engineer' has a broader meaning compared to the one understood in most other countries and can imply a person who has achieved a high level of study in both fundamental and applied sciences, as well as business management, humanities and social sciences. The best engineering schools will often provide such a general and very intensive education, although this is not always the case. Most of the schools of the following first four groups train the so-called 'generaliste' engineers:
1. ParisTech alliance :
2. Centrale Graduate Schools of engineering; its students are commonly known as pistons :
3. Institut National des Sciences Appliquées network is the largest engineer training group in France, with 16,700+ students, administered by the French Ministry of National Education. It consists of grandes écoles distributed throughout mainland France:
4. National Polytechnic Institutes
5. Réseau Polytech schools of engineering, is a French network of 15 graduate schools of engineering within France's leading technological universities. All schools in the Group offer Master of Engineering degrees in various specialities:
6. Écoles Nationales Supérieures d'Ingénieurs, which encompasses approximately 40 grandes écoles:
7. Institut Mines-Telecom schools of engineering
8. École Nationale d'Ingénieurs network is an engineer training group:
9. Universités de technologie group: Compiègne, Troyes ; Belfort-Montbéliard
10. Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers
The following schools usually train each student for a more specific area in science or engineering:
11. Grandes écoles of Actuarial Sciences, Statistics and Econometrics
12. Grandes écoles of Chemistry
13. Grandes écoles of Physics
14. Grandes écoles of Information Technology and Telecommunications
15. Grandes écoles of Applied Physics and Technology or Civil and Industrial Engineering
16. Grandes écoles of Biology and other Natural Sciences
17. Other private Grandes écoles offering multiple specialities

Business schools (''grandes écoles de commerce'')

Most French business schools are partly privately run, or managed by the regional chambers of commerce.
Business schools recruiting students just after taking the baccalauréat, most of them are private:
The below list contains French business schools that are officially part of the Conférence des grandes écoles.
Business schools recruiting students from post-baccalaureat preparatory classes, high selectivity rate:
Business schools recruiting students with professional experience:

Grandes écoles without preparatory classes

Some schools are accessible after a competitive entrance exam directly after the baccalauréat. Often, students of these schools will progress to an administrative school.
These schools include:

Universities that have joined the ''Conférence des grandes écoles''

In 2004, Paris-Dauphine University joined the Conférence des grandes écoles and now has the status of university, grand établissement, and grande école.

Schools for Political Studies, Social Sciences, Journalism and Communication studies

These schools train students in multidisciplinary fields of social and human studies. Students are prepared for civil service and other public-sector leader positions, but more and more of them do end up working in the private sector. Some of these schools are reserved for French or EEA citizens only.
Institut d'études politiques
Grandes Écoles of Journalism and communication studies
Other Grandes Écoles

Military officer academies

Today, there are only 3 grandes écoles that are officially denominated as military academies of the French Republic.
While École polytechnique is also under supervision of the French Ministry of Defence, it is no longer officially a military academy. Only a small number of its students progress to military careers, while between a fifth and a quarter choose to remain in France to work for the state's technical administrations.
There are also other specialized military "grandes écoles":

Facts and influence in French culture

Altogether, grandes écoles awarded approximately 60,000 master's degrees in 2013, compared with 150,000 master's degrees awarded by all French higher institutions in the same year, including universities.
Grande école graduates in 2013 represent 10% of the French population graduating from high school 5 years before.
Some grandes écoles are renowned in France for their selectivity and the complexity of their curriculum. In the press, they are usually called the "A+" schools, referring to the grade given by some rankings. These elite schools represent less than 1% of the higher education students in France.
Admission to a certain number of these institutions is reserved only to French citizens, raising questions relating to European mobility and institutional reciprocity.
Since 1975, the Comité d'études sur les formations d'ingénieurs has studied the questions of training and job placement for engineers graduating from grandes écoles.

Notable alumni

Of the 29 persons who have served as President of France, 17 attended a Grande école.
President of FranceIn OfficeGrande école
Patrice de MacMahon1873 – 1879École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr
Sadi Carnot1887 – 1894École Polytechnique; École des ponts ParisTech
Paul Doumer1931 – 1932Conservatoire national des arts et métiers
Albert Lebrun1932 – 1940École Polytechnique; Mines ParisTech
Philippe Pétain1940 – 1944École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr
Léon Blum1946 – 1947École normale supérieure (Paris)
Charles de Gaulle1959 – 1969École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr
Alain Poher 1969; 1974Mines ParisTech; Sciences Po
Georges Pompidou1969 – 1974Sciences Po; École normale supérieure (Paris)
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing1974 – 1981École Polytechnique; École nationale d'administration
François Mitterrand1981 – 1995Sciences Po
Jacques Chirac1995 – 2007Sciences Po; École nationale d'administration
Nicolas Sarkozy2007 - 2012Sciences Po
François Hollande2012 – 2017HEC Paris; Sciences Po; École nationale d'administration
Emmanuel Macron2017 – presentSciences Po; École nationale d'administration

Many winners of the Nobel prize attended a Grande école
Nobel laureateYearCategoryGrande école
Marie Curie1903 & 1911Physics & ChemistryESPCI Paris
Henri Becquerel1903PhysicsConservatoire national des arts et métiers; École Polytechnique
Henri Moissan1906ChemistryÉcole pratique des hautes études
Gabriel Lippmann1908PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Paul Sabatier1912ChemistryÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Jean Baptiste Perrin1926PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Henri Bergson1927LiteratureÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Frédéric Joliot-Curie1935ChemistryESPCI Paris
Roger Martin du Gard1937LiteratureÉcole Nationale des Chartes
François Mauriac1952LiteratureÉcole Nationale des Chartes
Jean-Paul Sartre1964LiteratureÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Alfred Kastler1966PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Louis Néel1970PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Gérard Debreu1983EconomicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Maurice Allais1988EconomicsÉcole Polytechnique; Mines ParisTech
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes1991PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Georges Charpak1992PhysicsMines ParisTech; ESPCI Paris
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji1997PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Yves Chauvin2005ChemistryÉcole Supérieure de Chimie Physique Électronique de Lyon
Albert Fert2007PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Serge Haroche2012PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris)
Jean Tirole2014EconomicsParis Dauphine University; École des ponts ParisTech; École Polytechnique
Esther Duflo2019EconomicsÉcole normale supérieure (Paris); École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Alain Aspect2022PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure Paris-Saclay
Anne L'Huillier2023PhysicsÉcole normale supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses