Grenoble Institute of Political Studies

The Grenoble Institute of Political Studies (French: Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble, IEP), also known as Sciences Po Grenoble, is a French "grande école" of political science and more broadly of social sciences located in the campus of the University of Grenoble in Grenoble, France. It is administratively a subsidiary of the Université Grenoble Alpes. The Institut d'études politiques of Grenoble was founded in 1948 on the model of Sciences Po Paris with the mission of providing France with public and private sector executives as well as specialists in the different fields of the social sciences. Its courses and degrees are modeled under the supervision of the National Foundation of Political Sciences. Since May 2012, Jean-Charles Froment has held the position of president (the former president was Olivier Ihl). Sciences Po institutes are Grandes Écoles, a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and connected to the main framework of the French public university system. Similar to the Ivy League in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and C9 League in China, Grandes Écoles are elite academic institutions that admit students through an extremely competitive process. The selection rates at these schools are frequently less than 10%. Alums go on to occupy elite positions within government, administration, and corporate firms in France. Although these institutes are more expensive than public universities in France, Grandes Écoles typically have much smaller class sizes and student bodies, and many of their programs are taught in English. International internships, study abroad opportunities, and close ties with government and the corporate world are a hallmark of the Grandes Écoles. Many of the top ranked schools in Europe are members of the Conférence des Grandes Écoles (CGE), as are the Sciences Po institutes.