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Sciences Po is most commonly used as an epithet of one of France's most distinguished educational institutions, the former École libre des sciences politiques. Founded in Paris in 1872 with the objective of training future French elites in public and private sector with a general educational project, and in fact trained a large number of diplomats and civil servants, it was often referred to as the École des Sciences Politiques or simply Sciences Po, Institut d'études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po - IEP), or officially Sciences Po Paris.

In 1945, General Charles de Gaulle transformed the study of political science in France by creating a system of schools modelled after the École libre des sciences politiques, which was founded as a private school and trained many of the European political and diplomatic elite. This system of schools evolved into nine public Institutes of Political Studies (French: Institut d'Études Politiques or IEP) at Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Lille, Lyon, Paris, Rennes, Strasbourg and Toulouse.

The only IEP to retain the epithet Sciences Po is the National Foundation of Political Science (France) (French: Fondation nationale des sciences politiques) and the school which it manages, the Sciences Po Paris- Institut d'études politiques de Paris (English: Paris Institute of Political Studies) because they are the direct descendants of the École libre des sciences politiques. The other institutes are referred to as IEP or Sciences Po immediately followed by the city in which they reside (example: Sciences Po Rennes, IEP de Rennes).

[edit] External links

• Further explanations on the legal status of the FNSP and the IEP de Paris
• Official Website of the IEP de Paris (SciencesPo.) (French)