about france

The Grandes écoles of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities . They are generally focused on a single subject area, such as engineering , have a moderate size, and are often quite selective in their admission of students. They are widely regarded as prestigious, and traditionally have produced most of France's scientists and executives .

The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) is a prep course with the main goal of training students for enrollment in a Grande École (and especially an engineering school , see: Grandes écoles ). Admission to the CPGE is very competitive and is usually based on performance during the last two years of high school, called Première and Terminale . The CPGE are located within high schools but pertain to tertiary education, which means that each student must have passed successfully their Baccalauréat (or equivalent) to be admitted in CPGE. Each CPGE receives the files of hundreds of applicants worldwide every year during April and May, and selects its new students under its own criteria (mostly excellency). A few CPGE programmes, mainly the private CPGEs (which account for 10% of CPGEs), also have an interview process or look at a student's involvement in the community. CPGE programs have a nominal duration of two years, but the second year is sometimes repeated once, mostly in the scientific sections, where the student gets then the status of cinq demi ("five halves"), for he was only a trois demi ("three halves") during his first second year. The explanation behind those names is that the most coveted engineering school is the Ecole Polytechnique , nicknamed the X (as the mathematical unknown ). In French, a student is said to integrate a school when they are allowed to enroll in it. A student is called a 3/2 if he integrates the Ecole Polytechnique between his first and second year of preparatory class since the integral of x from 1 to 2 is 3/2. The same idea is valid for "cinq demi", since the integral of x from 2 to 3 is 5/2. Students enrolled in their second second-year are also called "carrés" (squares), and a few turn to "cubes" for a third and final second-year. These terms probably stem from repeated attempts at applying to "X" (Polytechnique), yielding x 2 and x 3 . Some ambitious professors encourage their top students to eschew admittance to other prestigious schools in order to try their hand at X one more time...

The most known CPGEs are certainly the scientific ones, which can only be accessed by scientific Bacheliers . Scientific CPGE are called either MP ("Mathematics and Physics") or PC ("Physics and Chemistry"), etc. First year CPGE students are called the 'Math Sup' - or Hypotaupe - (Sup for "Classe de Mathématiques Supérieures", superior in French, meaning post-high school), and second years 'Math Spé' - or Taupe - (Spés standing for "Classe de Mathématiques Spéciales", special in French). The students of these classed are called Taupins . Both the first and second year programmes include as much as sixteen hours of mathematics teaching per week, ten hours of physics, two hours of philosophy, two to four hours of (one or two) foreign languages teaching and two to three hours of minor options: either SI , Engineering Industrial Science or Theoretical Computer Science (including some programmation using the Pascal or CaML programming languages, as a practical work).

The litterary and humanities CPGEs have also their own nicknames, Hypokhâgne for the first year and Khâgne for the second year. The students are called the khâgneux . These classes prepare for schools such as Écoles Normales Supérieures .

There are also CPGE which are focused on economics (known as épiciers , who prepare the admission in business schools ). These latter are known as "Prépa HEC" and are split in two parts ("prépa HEC spe mathematics" , generally for those who graduated the baccalaureat S and "prépa HEC spe éco" , for those who were in the economics section in the lycée.).

The students of CPGE are also matriculated in universities, and can rejoin college in case of failure of their grandes écoles ambitions or if they just do not wish to become engineers and feel not able to pass the Écoles Normales Supérieures competitive examinations. The ratio of students who failed to enter grandes écoles is low in the scientifics and economics CPGE, but high in humanities, for the only Grandes Écoles aimed in these classes are the Écoles Normales Supérieures .

The amount of work required of the students is exceptionally high. In addition to class time, students spend several hours each week completing exams and 'colles' (very often written 'khôlles' to look like a Greek word, this way of writing being initially a khâgneux joke). The so called 'colles' are unique to French academic education in CPGEs. They consist of oral examinations twice a week. Students, usually in groups of three, spend an hour facing a professor alone in a room, answering questions and solving problems. In CPGE littéraires (humanities), the system of 'colles' is a bit different. They are taken every trimester in every subject. Students have one hour to prepare a mini-presentation that takes the form of a 'dissertation' (in history, philosophy...) on a given topic, and that of a 'commentaire composé' (a methodologically codified commentary) in literature and foreign languages; as for the Ancient Greek or Latin, they involve a translation and a commentary. The student then has 20 minutes to present his work to the teacher, who ends the session by asking some questions on the presentation and on the corresponding topic.'Colles' are regarded as extremely stressful, particularly due to the high standards expected by the teachers, and the subsequent harshness that may be directed at students who do not perform adequately. But they are important inasmuch as they prepare the students, from the very first year, to the oral part of the competitive examination, reserved to the happy few who successfully pass the written part.


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