This visit, organised by the DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst), was part of a week-long programme of meetings with several French universities and Grandes Écoles. The objective of the delegation was to have a better understanding of the French university system, in particular the research, teaching and international aspects or the links with the socio-economic fabric.

A first session with Jean-François Pinton, President of ENS de Lyon, gave a detailed presentation of the French Grandes Écoles system, the specific missions of the Écoles normales supérieures and the functioning of ENS de Lyon.
The presentation was followed by a moment of exchange with many questions related to the selection of students, the financing of their studies or their accommodation. The DAAD praised the small size of the institution which allows for a quality welcome and a close relationship between students and teachers.

This plenary session was followed by exchanges in smaller groups between members of the delegation and researchers and teacher-researchers of ENS de Lyon. The themes addressed during these parallel sessions were :

• Local and national partnerships of universities and higher education institutions
• Research
• Training
• Cooperation and international strategy

Cooperation with German universities is important for ENS de Lyon because it is the second country with which it co-publishes the most after the United States and just before the United Kingdom. This dialogue has therefore allowed us to reaffirm, through the exchange of good practices, the importance of optimising and developing networked actions at European level in order to continue to gain visibility on an international level.