Sciences Po announced Tuesday a reform of its procedure of entry in first year, with the suppression of its entrance contest, and undertakes in parallel to reinforce its conventions with the high schools under priority education.
Less than half of the candidates passed the competition
"The admissions reform is a project that has mobilized us for two years, and will take effect in September 2021, for the first promotion resulting from the reform of the ferry," told AFP director, Frederic Mion. "Our desire is to achieve a more readable, more efficient and more equitable system to ensure a better diversity of profiles".
No more traditional written exams, the so-called "entry" contest of Sciences Po, that passed a little less than half of the candidates (the others entered via an international procedure, reserved for the candidates preparing a French baccalaureate abroad, or via the procedure of the Priority Education Conventions).
Continuous control, average bac, profile and motivation
From now on, all the candidates will be evaluated according to 4 dimensions: the continuous control in high school over three years, the average of the written tests to the baccalaureate, the profile of the candidate and his motivation. Eligible candidates will then pass an "oral interview", which will be conducted remotely.
At the same time, the prestigious school wishes to reinforce the mechanism of its priority conventions by doubling the number of partner institutions, which will increase from 106 to more than 200 high schools in the coming years. Some 15% of places will be reserved for students who have followed this course and 100% of students recruited through this device will have to be scholarship holders. In total, Sciences Po is committed to recruiting at least 30% of fellows in each new promotion.