The inauguration of the new campus Jourdan ENS-PSE

The new ENS-PSE building of more than 12,000 m², situated on the Jourdan campus in the 14^th arrondissement of Paris, between the Porte d’Orléans and the Parc Montsouris, opposite the Cité Universitaire, was officially inaugurated today by President François Hollande. Also present were the minister for schools and higher education and research Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and president of the Regional Council for the Île de France, Valérie Pécresse.

• Download this press release (pdf)
• To reach a selection of articles about the Jourdan campus: follow this link “Inauguration du campus Jourdan”
• View online the video of the inauguration (Youtube)

“Nous avons besoin de compréhension dans un monde toujours plus complexe. Nous avons besoin de vérification, d’évaluation et du regard critique des sciences sociales sur les politiques publiques” - M. François Hollande, Président la République. 23 fév. 2017, Campus Jourdan.

Designed by the architectural company TVAA and jointly funded by the Région Île-de-France (64%), the central state (30%) and the city of Paris (6%), the new building will house researchers, students, and administrative teams of the Ecole normale supérieure and the Paris School of Economics.

Originally built at the end of the 1940s, until the 1980s the Jourdan campus was the site of the École normale supérieure for young women from Sèvres. In the past ten years, it has become one of the greatest places in France for teaching and research in economic and social sciences.

In 2007, the regional government, the City of Paris and the central government jointly decided to undertake a vast programme to restructure and extend the campus, and to raise a new building there, for a sum of 49 million euros. In autumn 2011, the proposal presented by the TVAA agency (Thierry Van de Wyngaert, Véronique Feigel Architectes Associés) was chosen. Ambitious and elegant, it adheres to the strong architectural tradition of its immediate surroundings, particularly the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. The work began in autumn, with a completion date of early 2017. This luminous new edifice, certified High Environmental Quality, whose façade is covered in mobile wooden and metal panels, offers teaching and research spaces fitting to the two schools it houses:

• The École normale supérieure (www.ens.fr) will house its departments of geography, social sciences, and economics here, as well as the Maurice Halbwachs Centre and the Cepremap.
• The Paris School of Economics (www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu) will bring together here its community that is currently spread over two campuses, as well as the Institute of Public Policy and the European branch of J-Pal. It will also offer collaborative spaces for innovative research projects.

The schools, linked by a central path called “Ernest’s jetty” (a wink in the direction of the many Ernests), the famous goldfish of the pond in the courtyard of the Normale Sup’, rue d’Ulm, share a 300-seat lecture theatre, a library of 50,000 volumes, a cafeteria and an examination room. The whole is designed to welcome and to encourage dialogue among the diverse disciplines of the social sciences.

Key Figures

> New building of 12,500 m²: 6,300 m² PSE, 3,900 m² ENS, 2,300 m² common space, including a 300-place lecture hall, a library
of 870 m² with more than 50,000 humanities and social sciences volumes, a cafeteria, student residences...
> An expected almost 2,000 users: students, teacher-researchers and administrative staff of ENS and PSE
> 49 million euros (in total): 31.5 M€ from the Région Ile-de-France, 14.5 M€ from the central government, 3 M€ from the City
of Paris
> Building certified HQE (of High Environmental Quality) / Label BBC Effinergie

The Paris School of Economics

The aim of the Paris School of Economics, which celebrates its tenth birthday this year, is to develop economics research to the highest international standard and to publish its results widely. It brings together almost 140 researchers and 180 PhD candidates, and offers teaching at the cutting edge of the discipline (220 students enrolled in Masters programmes for the 2016-17 academic year). Founded by the CNRS, the EHESS, the ENS, the École des ponts-ParisTech, the INRA, and the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, PSE comprises both private and public partners. Now an established feature on the global academic landscape, PSE is breaking down barriers to achieve its ambition of excellence: it brings together universities and grands ecoles, encourages exchange between economics and other social sciences, is committed to socially relevant research, and participates in multiple partnerships. PSE intends to take full advantage of the wonderful opportunity offered by the move to the new building to increase its influence and its interactions with other disciplines on campus, to initiate new courses and to be a launching pad for innovative projects such as the World Inequality Lab and the François Simiand centre of economic history.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu │ Media liaison : Sylvain Riffé Stern - sylvain.riffe at psemail.eu, 01 43 13 63 5

The Ecole normale supérieure

The ENS, a grande école in its selective recruitment and a research training university, is a singular institution that has played a central role in forming the French elites for more than two centuries. The École normale supérieure is a world-ranking establishment of higher teaching and research, training more than 2,000 students, including 600 doctoral candidates and 200 post-doctoral researchers, for careers in scientific research, university and secondary teaching, as well as in public service with the central state, regional authorities, public sector establishments and private firms. Open to the world, ENS boasts 15 departments, 31 research units and more than 100 research teams covering the essential disciplines, from the humanities and social sciences to the life sciences and earth sciences. It regularly receives merit awards, and today counts among its distinctions thirteen Nobel prizes, ten Field medals, and 28 CNRS gold medals. The ENS is committed to developing partnerships with firms conducting high technology projects and is a founding member of the Université de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres.
www.ens.fr │ Media liaison : Véronique Prouvost - veronique.prouvost at ens.fr, 01 44 32 31 75