Normal School of Lyon

The École Normale Supérieure de Lyon is an elite French public institution that trains professors, researchers, senior civil servants as well as business and political leaders. Students choose their courses and split their time between training and research in sciences and humanities. Founded in 1880, the ENS de Lyon also focuses on educational research. It is a symbol of French Republican meritocracy and it remains committed today to disseminating knowledge to the widest audience and to promoting equal opportunity.

• Literature, Social and Human sciences

• Exact sciences

The École Normale Supérieure (ENS) was founded in post-revolutionary France to train teachers for secondary schools and ensure a consistent, critical and secular education for all pupils across the country.

Soon the ENS became home to the nation's leading research and intellectual life: famous alumni of France's oldest ENS, the ENS Ulm in Paris, include Louis Pasteur, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone Weil.

Building on this first success, other ENS were created in the late 19th century with the mission to train the future teachers of France's primary and secondary education system: in Fontenay-aux-Roses for young women and in Saint-Cloud for young men.

After World War II, these two schools focused on preparing teachers for the higher education system through a training-by-research model that remains today the hallmark of the ENS. From the 1980's onwards, the schools gradually moved to Lyon, where the ENS de Lyon was officially founded in 2010.

QS World University Rankings: 188th (world) / 5th (France)
THE World University Rankings: 201-250th (world) / 6th (France)
Academic Ranking of World Universities: 201-300th (world) / 9-14th (France)

You will need at least €600 a month to live decently and more the first month to meet the expense of settling in. 

 - Rhônexpress Express Tram between Saint-Exupery airport and Lyon city center: 13€ single ticket  
- Subway-Bus: 15.10 € for a book of 10 tickets valid on the bus, tram and metro (or monthly subscription28.80 €)  
- Food: about 300 € a month  
- A meal at one of the university restaurants: 3.15 €  
- A 250 g stick of French bread: 0.90 € on average  
- A ticket for the cinema: 6 or 7 € on average, student price 

The library of the ENS de Lyon is home to some 1.2 million documents and electronic resources that can be consulted by anyone. Students, teachers and researchers from Lyon and its region can borrow titles from Monday through Friday 9am - 7pm and Saturday 9am - 5pm.

The sports facilities of the ENS are available to members 7 days a week. The ENS has two gyms, one of which is equipped with a climbing wall (100m2 with a 10m section of overhang), a tennis court, 2 weights rooms as well as a dance room. Equipment is available free of charge (badminton and tennis rackets, balls...).

A flurry of student associations play a key part in the ENS de Lyon's campus life, whether in the fields of culture, the arts, sport or humanitarian action. The school also hosts myriad conferences, performances, concerts and exhibitions - exciting events for everyone.

"La Librairie" Gallery hosts exhibitions of contemporary art and photography.

Salle Dutilleux - this music room with two excellent pianos bears the name of late French composer Henri Dutilleux.

The photo lab features a digital processing lab and a darkroom for traditional film photos (black & white and color).

The art studio welcomes painters, designers, sculpters and professionals of other disciplines selected by the ENplaStik student club.

The Kantor Theater is both a theater and a school, reflecting what makes the ENS de Lyon special.

1) An elite school, among France's best

• A highly selective and prestigious institution
• Study programs tailored to students’ projects
• An international and interdisciplinary approach
• Many alumni are high-level civil servants, business and political leaders

2) Educating minds through research

• 12 study programs and 21 research labs
• 45 Master’s degrees, more than 400 PhD students
• Conferences, internships, junior labs 

3) An international reach

• 60 nationalities on campus, 15% of international students, 20% of students abroad
• 194 partner universities in 41 countries
• Strategic alliances: East China Normal University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Ottawa University, Universidade de Sao Paulo, University of Tokyo, Goethe Universität-Frankfurt
• Institut d’Études Avancées (Collegium of Lyon)

4) Cutting-edge research

• 1 Fields medal, 5 members of the Academy of Sciences, 38 CNRS medals
• 30 industrial research contracts (Saint-Gobain, L’Oreal, Rhodia, IFP…), 20 start-ups
• Prestigious international research partnerships (international research unit CNRS-Rhodia in Shanghai, Sino-French JoRISS research platform)

5) A leading academic and scientific hub

• Lyon, a center of excellence in sciences, chemistry, humanities and education
• The Université de Lyon: 11 institutions, 129,000 students, 11,500 teachers and researchers
• The ENS de Lyon is also part of groups of top-flight schools and labs

6) An urban campus at the heart of Europe

• A peaceful and lush campus close to the center of Lyon
• Affordable accommodation and rich student life
• More than 300 scientific and cultural events each year
• 2 hours from Paris and Marseille via high-speed train

7) Funding for your studies

• 20 Ampere scholarships for Master’s degrees
• 7 scholarships for the best foreign students selected via the entrance exam
• Erasmus Mundus scholarships from the EU
• ENS de Lyon funding for PhD students with internationally co-directed theses

8) Indulge in French culture

• “Discovering French as a foreign language”: 1-week immersion course (end-August)
• Workshops to perfect your written and spoken French, discover French civilization, creative writing, drama, etc.
• Get credit for your skills with ETCS or a certificate from the Language Cente