The École normale supérieure de Lyon (also known as ENS de Lyon, ENSL or Normale Sup' Lyon) is a French grande école located in the city of Lyon. It is one of the four prestigious écoles normales supérieures in France. The school is composed of two academic units— Arts and Sciences— with campuses in Lyon, near the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers. ENSL's students usually enjoy a special civil servant status in the wake of highly competitive exams, providing they pursue careers in public service. Although it maintains extensive connections with the University of Lyon and external research institutions, including the CNRS, the school remains independent. History Training teachers for normal schools L'École normale supérieure de Lyon is the descendant of two top educational institutions founded by Jules Ferry: L'École normale supérieure de Fontenay-aux-Roses, for girls, founded in 1880. L'École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, for boys, founded in 1882. Recruiting among the most brilliant French students, these two schools used to train the future professors of the French normal schools. Whereas these schools were largely regarded as meritocratic, their sisters - the eldest, l'École Normale Supérieure de la Rue d'Ulm, and her feminine counterpart, l'École normale supérieure de jeunes filles de Sèvres -, which trained academics, were de facto dedicated to the heirs of the Parisian elites. A shift towards secondary and higher education Following the decline of normal schools and a reform of national education, the decree of February 19, 1945 granted both institutions the title of Écoles normales préparatoires à l'enseignement secondaire. The Schools' purpose changed in the context of a secondary system democratisation. By 1956, the length of studies was increased to four years in order to institute a preparation for the agrégation - a prestigious teaching qualification. Increasingly opening up to research, they aligned their development strategies with those of the ENS Ulm and Sèvres. The relocation in Lyon As part of France's process of decentralisation, the Schools' scientific departments moved in 1987 to Gerland, a former Lyon's industrial district, in the premises of the current Monod campus. The relocated institution was named ENS Lyon. Humanities students remained in the Paris region within the coeducational École normale supérieure de Fontenay-Saint-Cloud. In 2000, this school, informally renamed École normale supérieure lettres et sciences humaines, was transferred to the new Descartes Campus also located in Gerland. On the first of January 2010, the two branches merged