page_title: École normale supérieure (Paris)
section_title: Second founding
hierarchical_section_title: École normale supérieure (Paris) / History / Second founding
caption_attribution_description: English: École normale supérieure's entrance. Français&#160;: Façade de l'École normale supérieure.
context_page_description: The École normale supérieure is one of the most selective and prestigious graduate schools in Paris, France. It is one of the French grandes écoles and a constituent member of PSL University.
  It was initially conceived during the French Revolution, founded in 1794, and was intended to provide the Republic with a new body of professors, trained in the critical spirit and secular values of the Enlightenment. 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 was added to form the current name. It has since developed into an institution which has become a platform for a select few of France's students to pursue careers in government and academia. ENS has two main sections and 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 principal goal of ENS is the training of professors, researchers and public administrators.
context_section_description: An École préparatoire was created on 9 March 1826 at the site of collège Louis-le-Grand. This date can be taken as the definitive date of creation of the current school. After the July Revolution, the school regained its original name of École normale and in 1845 was renamed École normale supérieure. During the 1830s, under the direction of philosopher Victor Cousin, the school enhanced its status as an institution to prepare the agrégation by expanding the duration of study to three years, and was divided into its present-day "Sciences" and "Letters" divisions. In 1847 the school moved into its current quarters at the rue d'Ulm, next to the Panthéon in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. This helped it gain some stability, which was further established under the direction of Louis Pasteur.
  Having been recognised as a success, a second school was created on its model at Sèvres for girls in 1881, followed by other schools at Fontenay, Saint-Cloud (both of which later moved to Lyon, and Cachan). The school's status evolved further at the beginning of the twentieth century.
  In 1903 it was integrated into the University of Paris as a separate college, perhaps as a result of its exposition to national attention during the Dreyfus Affair, in which its librarian Lucien Herr and his disciples, who included the socialist politician Jean Jaurès and the writers Charles Péguy and Romain Rolland spearheaded the campaign to overturn the wrongful conviction pronounced against Captain Alfred Dreyfus. The first female student - Marguerite Rouvière - was accepted in 1910, which made headline news in France and polarised opinion.
  The ranks of the school were significantly reduced during the First World War, but the 1920s marked a degree of expansion of the school, which had among its students at this time such figures as Raymond Aron, Jean-Paul Sartre, Vladimir Jankélévitch and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
caption: The main entrance to the ENS on Rue d'Ulm. The school moved into its current premises in 1847.
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