The National School for Social Security (EN3S)

As a training ground for the upper echelons of France’s social security system, EN3S has rapidly emerged as the reference educational establishment in its field. It also provides in-career training for social security managers and executives and cooperates actively in the international arena on training initiatives for French-speaking social security professionals.

A three-fold mission

EN3S (Ecole nationale supérieure de la sécurité sociale) was founded in 1960. Initially known as the Centre for Higher Social Security Studies (CESSS), it became the “National Centre for Higher Social Security Studies” (CNESSS) in 1978, then EN3S in 2004. The school has beenbased in Saint-Etienne since 1978, and is managed by a board of governors composed of representatives of France’s main social security schemes.

EN3S’s mission is three-fold:

1. to train future social security system managers and executives, selected through a competitive process,
2. to run in-career training programmes for social security system managers,
3. to promote the French social security system abroad by organising training programmes and developing partnerships with foreign social protection organisations and institutions.

Initial professional training

EN3S provides initial professional training for the future managers of around 500 different social security organisations across several different schemes. The school’s intake comprises students recruited on the basis of an external competitive entrance exam, and applicants from within the social security system selected through an internal competition process.

To enable students to acquire the knowledge and professional skills required to exercise their future professional responsibilities, the school offers a programme structured around two main themes:

1. the mission of the public service sector and the means of accomplishing that mission,
2. management of social security bodies.

The length of the course is 18 months, during which period students receive remuneration. The curriculum combines both theoretical instruction and placements in social security organisations. Performance is evaluated through ongoing assessments and a final exam, and successful students earn the title of graduate of the school and a Masters in Social Protection Management.Some 70 students graduate each year - a total 2,700 since EN3S’s founding, who today work in some 615 social security bodies.

In-career training

For all senior social security executives and managers enrolling on its in-career programmes, ENSP offers four priority goals:

1. to maximise their skills with regard to the technical aspects of their job, namely the service relationship, the quality process, management of human and financial resources and information systems,
2. to foster their professional development through the provision of career management programmes and support in preparing for their future responsibilities as executive officers, directors or accounting officers,
3. to foster their personal development in terms of time management skills, confidence building to cope with difficult situations or the need to innovate within constraints, etc.
4. to foster their ability to adapt to new situations and environments to provide effective management with regard to public policy and social protection at European and international level.

The school also provides legally-required training to allow professionals to upgrade their skills or access specific positions within the social security system (accounting officer, consulting engineer, practitioner-adviser).

It also organises workshops on topical issues – on some occasions in partnership with other grandes écoles like ENA and Sciences-Po – as well as seminars abroad and training initiatives at the request of social protection organisations.Each year, EN3S runs some 260 in-career training sessions attended by more than 3,300 social security professionals.

International activities

EN3S’s international dimension is reflected in:

• the recruitment of foreign students (about 400 since 1984),
• the organisation of training programmes and study tours for foreign delegations; in recent years EN3S has hosted delegations from French-speaking Africa as well as Albania, Algeria, Chile, China Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Lebanon, Poland, Romania, Russia and Venezuela,
• organisational, training or financial audits in requesting countries, culminating in concrete training initiatives either in-situ or in France, or in-country assignments by experts to implement recommendations,
• its partnership with the Inter-African Conference on Social Security (CIPRES), particularly in the area of training,
• its participation in cooperation activities in association with international organisations such as the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
• its activities as a founder member of the French Agency for the Development and Coordination of International Relations (ADECRI).