The École normale supérieure (ENS) is an elite higher education institution (graduate school) for advanced undergraduate and graduate studies, and a prestigious French research center. It encompasses fifteen teaching and research departments, spanning the main humanities, sciences and disciplines. Unique among France’s grandes écoles for its training in the humanities and sciences, the ENS prepares its students for their role as future leaders in every imaginable professional field: in research, media, public service and private industry.