École normale supérieure

The École normale supérieure (ENS-PSL), often called Normale Sup, is a higher education and research institution in Paris, France, and part of PSL, whose master's programmes are taught at the school. Its main site is on the rue d'Ulm in Paris, with two further campuses on boulevard Jourdan in Paris and in Montrouge. The school has 15 departments, 35 laboratories and 9 libraries, covering both the sciences and the arts and humanities.

Students, known as normaliens, are admitted in the sciences and the humanities through three separate routes:

• Seven competitive exams for students from preparatory classes (CPGE); successful candidates are paid during their four years of study
• The concours normalien étudiant, open to university students of any nationality at L2 or L3 level, for three years of study
• The International selection, for students enrolled in undergraduate studies at a foreign university, with a grant for three years

Students enter either the third year of a bachelor's degree (licence 3) or the first year of a master's degree (master 1). International selection applicants must have completed at least one year of undergraduate study at a foreign university with outstanding results. All normaliens have access to the same teaching, services and facilities, including housing. The ENS also takes part in the Atypie-Friendly programme to support neurodivergent students.