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Prime Minister Castex at the opening of the »Institut National du Service Public« in Strasbourg
Photo: FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP
The prestigious French administrative school École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) in Strasbourg is officially history.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex inaugurated the successor to the critically acclaimed elite institution on Friday in the same premises: the Institut National du Service Public (National Institute of Public Service).
It is intended to ensure the training of France's next generation of administrators in the future.
According to Paris, the new facility should be more open to students from different social backgrounds. The ENA had been criticized for being reserved for a small, wealthy elite who, thanks to the exclusive training, were then able to secure top positions in the administration. Numerous presidents, including incumbent Emmanuel Macron, are »enarchs«, as ENA graduates call themselves. Macron had announced the dissolution of the university when many French people took to the streets in the course of the "yellow vest" protests against supposedly aloof elites.
The new training should now place a stronger focus on practical experience.
In addition, young graduates should no longer start in a managerial position immediately after completing their training.
The ENA was founded in 1945 under General Charles de Gaulle immediately after the Second World War.
olb/dpa