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The École nationale d'administration (generally known as ENA) is the school where many of France senior officials are instructed. It is the way of choice to reach the great administrative corps of the State. The graduates of ENA are known as énarques.
It was created in 1945 in Paris by Charles de Gaulle and is now partly delocalized in Strasbourg to emphasize its European belonging. There are plans to totally move the school to Strasbourg.
Entrance to ENA is granted on a competitive exam, which people generally take after completing studies at the Institut d'études Politiques de Paris (more widely known as Sciences Po).
The school was created in a move to make more rational and democratic the recruitment of personnel for various bodies of high administration. In practice, énarques were criticized as early as the 1960s for their technocratic and arrogant ways. Young énarque Jacques Chirac was, for instance, lampooned in an album of the Asterix series. Such criticism has continued up to present times, with the énarques being accused of monopolizing positions in higher administration and politics without real efficiency. It has become a recurrent theme for many French politicians to criticize ENA, even when they are former graduate themselves.
ENA ranks students according to their academic merit; students are then asked, in order of decreasing merit, the service that they want to join. While the first ranked join the prestigious corps like the Inspection of Finances, Conseil d'État or Court of Auditors, and some enter national politics, many end up in middle-level administration positions.
The way this school shapes French industry and politics has been studied by John Kenneth Galbraith and Pierre Bourdieu.
ENA offers courses for overseas students, too. So far, 1800 young public servants from all parts of the world have taken part in the "cycle long", which lasts 18 months. They spend part of the time studying alongside their French counterparts, and part working in a Prefecture.
Some famous alumni include:
- Presidents: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Jacques Chirac
- Prime Ministers: Laurent Fabius, Michel Rocard, Edouard Balladur, Alain Juppé, Lionel Jospin and Dominique de Villepin
- Ministers: Philippe Séguin, Elisabeth Guigou and Martine Aubry
- Industry leaders: Jean-Marie Messier, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, Louis Schweitzer
- Others: Michel Camdessus, Jacques de Larosière
See also
External link
- Template:Fr icon Official website (http://www.ena.fr)de:École nationale d'administration
fr:École nationale d'administration ja:フランス国立行政学院 pl:École nationale d'administration