Petition at France’s Ecole normale superieure calls for transparency over corporate partnerships

Around 200 students and researchers at France’s Ecole normale superieure (ENS) have signed a petition, calling for “total transparency” over its corporate partnerships, according to local media.

Titled “ENS is not for sale,” the petition urges greater disclosure of partnerships at the elite higher education institution, which trains researchers and teachers in humanities, sciences, and technology, France Inter reported on Sunday.

The signatories accuse the school of a “progressive dependence on multinationals, accompanied by the state over recent decades,” and point to what they describe as long-standing concerns over ties between academia and large private groups.

They also question whether public research is being gradually replaced by privately funded projects, raising concerns about academic freedom.

According to the petition, private influence is mainly expressed through the creation of corporate-funded research chairs, including an “Espace Chair” that brings together major French defense industry groups and is said to raise questions over the strategic and military dimensions of research themes.

The group behind the petition is calling for stricter criteria on partnerships, including the exclusion of companies in sectors such as defense, fossil fuels, and pesticides, as well as financial actors linked to them, and firms that have taken legal action against researchers, journalists, or NGOs.

An anonymous student told France Inter that research is increasingly being oriented toward “solutions that interest private companies.”

ENS director Frederic Worms rejected claims of donor influence, saying companies are not in direct contact with researchers and that funding is managed internally to ensure academic independence.

He said the school also rejects some partnerships, without giving details.

The institution reportedly received €2.3 million (nearly $2.5 million) in private sponsorship in 2025 to fund research programs, while the main funding source remains the Ministry of Higher Education, which allocates tens of millions of euros.

The funding model is not specific to ENS and applies to around 30 institutions, according to the EIES collective, a collective that campaigns against corporate involvement in higher education.

The Ecole normale superieure (ENS) is a prestigious French higher education institution known for training researchers and academics in science and humanities.