IEP

   Institut d'Etudes Politiques

   popularly referred to as Sciences Po, IEP are selective-entry schools of politics and economics, within the French university system. There are currently nine IEP, the most prestigious of them being the IEP de Paris. IEP provide a rounded multidisciplinary higher education and training for future leaders of the private sector and the civil service. They also prepare students for the gruelling competitive entry exams for the ENA, France's top school of administration, and other graduate schools. Students follow courses in politics and economics, but also languages, sociology, history and geography; this multidisciplinary approach, while going against the grain of many traditional concepts of higher education, is popular in France, and is much appreciated by students and employers . Graduates obtain a first degree or a masters degree, depending on the point of exit. The Paris IEP was founded in 1872, the others after the Second World War. See Higher Education.