The École nationale d'administration (ENA; French pronunciation: ​[ekɔl nasjɔnal dadministʁasjɔ̃]; English: National School of Administration) is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles, created in 1945 by Michel Debré to democratise access to the senior civil service. It is now entrusted with the selection and initial training of senior French officials. It is one of the most elitist French schools, both because of its acceptance rates and because a large majority of its candidates have already graduated from the best graduate schools in the country such as École Normale Supérieure, École Polytechnique or HEC Paris. The ENA thus stands as one of the symbols of the meritocracy, along with the other grandes écoles, offering its alumni access to high positions in the public and pri