1872 to 1945: Free School of Political Sciences , Sciences Po founder Sciences Po was established in December 1871 as the
École libre des sciences politiques (ELSP) by a group of French intellectuals, politicians and businessmen led by
Émile Boutmy, including
Hippolyte Taine,
Ernest Renan,
Albert Sorel and
Paul Leroy Beaulieu. The creation of the school was in response to widespread fears that the inadequacy of the education of the French political elite corps would diminish the country's international stature, as France grappled with a series of crises, including its defeat in the 1870
Franco-Prussian War, the demise of
Napoleon III's
regime, and the upheaval and massacre resulting from the
Paris Commune. The founders of the school sought to reform the training of the French political and economic elite by establishing a new "breeding ground where nearly all the major, non-technical state commissioners were trained." His innovative intellectual axis was to teach contemporary history, whereas political elites had only been taught ancient humanities for centuries, which they could still learn in universities at the same time. The
École acquired a major role in
France's political system. From 1901 to 1935, 92.5% of entrants to the ''
Grands corps de l'État'', the most powerful and prestigious administrative bodies in the
French Civil Service, had studied there (this figure includes people who took civil service examination preparatory classes at Sciences Po but did not earn a degree and, in general, students were taking classes there on top of earning a degree at the
University of Paris, in particular the Law Faculty). Other countries created similar schools in the following century. In 1875, the in Italy (now part of the
University of Florence), at the end of the century, the
École libre des sciences Politiques et Sociales in Belgium (not existing any more), the
Deutsche Hochschule für Politik in Germany, the Columbia School of Political Science (now merged into the
Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), the
London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, and, after
WW1, for the
School of Foreign Service from
Georgetown University in the United States and the
Geneva Graduate Institute in Switzerland. The connection between Sciences Po and French institutions meant that the school also played a key role in the apparatus of the French colonial empires. In 1886, the university established a colonial studies program with the goal of training students to take on professions in the colonial administration in a way that "propagates [...] a more scientific and international colonialism". Many professors and members of the ELSP administration, such as
Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, chair in colonial affairs at ELSP,
Joseph Chailley-Bert,
Jules Cambon,
Charles Jonnart,
Auguste Louis Albéric d’Arenberg and
Ernest Roume, were also closely linked to or worked directly with the colonial government. The colonial branch of ELSP closed in 1893 after a state-sponsored
Colonial School was created in 1889; however positions in the administrations of French colonies and protectorates continued to accept graduates from the ELSP.
1945: Refoundation Sciences Po underwent significant reforms in the aftermath of
World War II in 1945. At
France's liberation from
Nazi occupation, the public servants were accused of collaborating with the
Vichy regime and
Nazi Germany. Communist politicians including
Georges Cogniot accused the school to be the "home of collaboration" with Nazi Germany The school, however, had also trained eight out of the thirteen ministers of the
Provisional Government of the French Republic, and several prominent members of the
French Resistance. In order for the school not to be replaced, the director Roger Seydoux, his aid Jacques Chapsal and the school's most famous professor, André Siegfried, excluded those among the school's staff who were most compromised with the Vichy regime and Nazi Germany, and defended the school against accusation of collaboration and built up a communication campaign to save the school. The public-private nature of Sciences Po, Paris, also distinguishes it from a network of
institutes of political studies throughout the country that were inspired by its curriculum, namely in
Strasbourg,
Lyon,
Aix,
Bordeaux,
Grenoble,
Toulouse,
Rennes and
Lille. They are not to be confused with the seven campuses of Sciences Po in France. The government also established in 1945 the
École Nationale d'Administration (ENA), an elite postgraduate school for training government officials. From then on, the Grands Corps de l'Etat were obliged to recruit new entrants from ENA. Sciences Po became the school of choice for those hoping to enter the ENA, and so retained its dominant place in educating high-ranking officials.
1945 to 1996: The Chapsal-Gentot-Lancelot era From 1947 to 1979, Sciences Po is directed by
Jacques Chapsal, who replaced his mentor Roger Seydoux and led the school through the
Trente Glorieuses expansion as well as the
May 68 crisis. Under Chapsal, Sciences Po expands geographically. After the acquisition of the
Hôtel de La Meilleraye (56–58, rue des Saints-Pères), just across Sciences Po's lawn, the school bought the
hôtel de La Bretesche at number 30, rue Saint-Guillaume, just in front of the main building.
FNSP received a significant donations from the
Rockefeller Foundation.
FNSP published periodicals such as
la Revue française de science politique,
le Bulletin analytique de documentation,
la Chronologie politique africaine, and the
Cahiers de la Fondation as well as its seven research centres and main publishing house,
Presses de Sciences Po. Under the directorship of Descoings, the school incorporated courses in various branches of the social sciences on top of political science, such as law, economics, history, and sociology. The school also began requiring all its undergraduate students to spend a year abroad, and introduced a multilingual curriculum in French, English, and other languages. Sciences Po also began to expand outside Paris, establishing regional campuses throughout France. This program enables the institution to recruit high-potential students at partner high schools in more disadvantaged parts of France who, due to a social, academic, and financial constraints, would not otherwise have been able to attend Sciences Po. As a consequence, from 2001 to 2011, the proportion of scholarship students at Sciences Po went from 6 to 27 percent with around 30% of all students at Sciences Po currently receiving some form of scholarship. The reforms Descoings spearheaded were at times controversial and his leadership style came under heavy criticism. A further report by the French
Court of Audit in 2012 severely criticized the financial management of the bonuses and salaries under Descoings.
2013 to 2024: The Mion-Vicherat directorate After the sudden death of Richard Descoing,
Frédéric Mion, was appointed director of Sciences Po on 1 March 2013. Mion's intention to pursue Sciences Po's development as a "selective university of international standing" is detailed in the policy paper "Sciences Po 2022", published in the spring of 2014. He restructured the graduate studies by creating graduate schools, leading to the creation of the School of Public Affairs and the Urban School in 2015 and the School of Management and Innovation in 2016. In early 2016, Sciences Po updated its governance structure, adopting new statutes for its two constituent bodies: the
Fondation nationale des sciences politiques (FNSP) and the ''Institut d'études politiques de Paris'' (IEP). In late 2016, Sciences Po acquired a new site, the
Hôtel de l'Artillerie in the 7th arrondissement of Paris to expand its campus. In 2021, Sciences Po was hit by the
Duhamel scandal, mainly put forward by the best-seller book
La Familia Grande and newspaper articles from
Le Monde and
Nouvel Obs, a
sexual violence scandal one and a
succession crisis. Olivier Duhamel, director of the National Foundation of Sciences Po, who was accused of
raping his son, resigned. Frédéric Mion and other members of the board of these institutions resigned. On 22 November 2021,
Mathias Vicherat assumed office as the new director of Sciences Po. He resigned on March 13, 2024, after being ordered to stand trial on charges of domestic abuse. On March 26,
Jean Bassères was named interim director. In April 2024, Sciences Po became one of the
epicenters of French student protests against the
Gaza war. ==Campuses==