École Normale Supérieure (ENS/PSL)

About ENS:

The École normale supérieure (French pronunciation: ​[ekɔl nɔʁmal sypeʁjœʁ]; also known as ENS, Normale sup', Ulm or ENS Paris) is a grande école university in Paris, France. It is one of the constituent members of Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL).

Originally conceived during the French Revolution, the school was founded in 1794 to provide homogeneous training of high-school teachers in France but it later closed. The school was subsequently reestablished by Napoleon I 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. It has since developed into an institution which has become a platform for French students to pursue careers in government and academia.

The ENS has a highly competitive selection process consisting of written and oral examinations. During their studies, many ENS students hold the status of paid civil servants.

The ENS is a grande école and, as such, is not part of the mainstream university system. However, the vast majority of the academic staff hosted at ENS belong to external institutions such as one of the Parisian universities, the CNRS and the EHESS. This mechanism for constant scientific turnover allows ENS to benefit from a continuous stream of researchers in all fields. ENS full professorships are rare and competitive. Generalistic in its recruitment and organisation, the ENS is the only grande école in France to have departments of research in all the natural, social, and human sciences.

Due to the selectivity of its entrance exam and its turnover among French researchers, it has a high proportion of prize laureates and therefore a very good reputation. The school has achieved particular recognition in the fields of mathematics and physics. Its alumni include 14 Nobel Prize laureates, of which 8 are in Physics (ENS has the highest proportion of Nobel laureates among its alumni of any institution worldwide), 12 Fields Medalists, more than half the recipients of the CNRS's Gold Medal (France's highest scientific prize) and several hundred members of the Institut de France, and scores of politicians and statesmen. The school has achieved particular recognition in the fields of mathematics and physics as one of France's foremost scientific training grounds, along with notability in the human sciences as the spiritual birthplace of authors such as Julien Gracq, Jean Giraudoux, Assia Djebar, and Charles Péguy, philosophers such as Henri Bergson, Jean-Paul Sartre, Louis Althusser, Simone Weil, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Alain Badiou, social scientists such as Émile Durkheim, Raymond Aron, and Pierre Bourdieu, and "French theorists" such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. The school's students are often referred to as normaliens.

Its model has been replicated elsewhere, in France (at the ENSes of Lyon, Paris-Saclay, and Rennes), in Italy (at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa), in Romania, in China and in former French colonies such as Morocco, Mali, Mauritania, and Cameroon.

Source: wikipedia (2022).

Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)

About PSL:

Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL University or simply PSL) is a public research university based in Paris, France. It was established in 2010 and formally created as a university in 2019. It is a collegiate university with 11 constituent schools, with the oldest founded in 1530. PSL is located in central Paris, with its main sites in the Latin Quarter, at the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève campus, at the Jourdan campus, at Porte Dauphine in northern Paris, and at Carré Richelieu.

PSL awards Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD diplomas for its constituent schools and institutes. It offers an education based on research and interdisciplinary instruction, and its 17,000 students have access to a broad range of disciplines in science, engineering, humanities, social sciences, fine art and performing arts.

In 2022, PSL University was globally ranked 26th by the QS World University Rankings, 38th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 40th by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

PSL alumni and staff include 28 Nobel laureates, 11 Fields Medalists, 3 Abel laureates, 49 CNRS Gold Medalists, 50 César winners and 79 Molière winners.

Source: wikipedia (2022).

Sorbonne Université (SU)

About SU:

Sorbonne University (French: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as one of the first universities in Europe.

Sorbonne University is considered one of the most prestigious universities in Europe and the world. It has a world-class reputation in academia and industry; as of 2021, its alumni and professors have won 33 Nobel Prizes, six Fields Medals, and one Turing Award.[3]

In the 2021 edition of the Academic Ranking of World Universities, Sorbonne University ranked 35th in the world, placing it as the 4th best university in continental Europe, 3rd in Mathematics and Oceanography. In the 2023 edition of QS World University Rankings, the Sorbonne ranked 60th in the world, placing it 8th in continental Europe, 14th in Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and 7th in Classics and Ancient History.

Known for its selectivity, Sorbonne University is one of the most sought after universities by students and researchers from France, Europe, and the French speaking countries. Most notably, Marie Curie, who came from Poland in 1891 and joined the faculty of sciences of the Sorbonne, was also the first woman to become a professor at the Sorbonne. Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie are considered the founders of the modern-day Faculty of Science and Engineering of Sorbonne University.

Source: wikipedia (2022).

Collège de France

About Collège de France:

The Collège de France (French pronunciation: ​[kɔlɛʒ də fʁɑ̃s]), formerly known as the Collège Royal or as the Collège impérial founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (grand établissement) in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne.

Research and teaching are closely linked at the Collège de France, whose ambition is to teach "the knowledge that is being built up in all fields of literature, science and the arts". It offers high-level courses that are free, non-degree-granting and open to all without condition or registration. This gives it a special place in the French intellectual landscape.

The Collège is considered to be France's most prestigious research establishment. As of 2021, 21 Nobel Prize winners and 9 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with the Collège. It does not grant degrees. Each professor is required to give lectures where attendance is free and open to anyone. Professors, about 50 in number, are chosen by the professors themselves, from a variety of disciplines, in both science and the humanities. The motto of the Collège is Docet Omnia, Latin for "It teaches everything"; its goal is to "teach science in the making" and can be best summed up by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phrase: "Not acquired truths, but the idea of freely-executed research" which is inscribed in golden letters above the main hall. It is an associate member of University PSL.

The Collège has research laboratories and one of the best research libraries of Europe, with sections focusing on history with rare books, humanities, social sciences and also chemistry and physics.

As of June 2009, over 650 audio podcasts of Collège de France lectures are available on iTunes. Some are also available in English and Chinese. Similarly, the Collège de France's website hosts several videos of classes. The classes are followed by various students, from senior researchers to PhD or master students, or even bachelor students. Moreover, the "leçons inaugurales" (first lesson) are important events in Paris intellectual and social life and attract a very large public of curious Parisians.

Source: wikipedia (2022).