The École Normale Supérieure is a French higher education establishment outside the mainstream framework of the public universities system. The ENS was initially conceived during the Revolution, and intended to provide the Republic with a new body of teachers, trained in the critical spirit and secular values of the Enlightenment. It has since developed into an elite institution which does not offer degrees as such, but become the platform for France's brightest young people to pursue high-level careers in government and academia. Its alumni have provided France with scores of philosophers, writers, scientists, statesmen and even churchmen. Among them are 12 laureates of the Nobel Prize and 9 recipients of the Fields medal.
