The École normale supérieure (French pronunciation: ​[ekɔl nɔʁmal sypeʁjœʁ]; also known as Normale sup’, ENS Ulm, ENS Paris, l'École and most often just as ENS) is a French grande école (higher education establishment outside the framework of the public university system). It was initially conceived during the French Revolution and was intended to provide the Republic with a new body of professors, trained in the critical spirit and secular values of the Enlightenment. It has since developed into an elite institution which has become a platform for many of France's brightest young people to pursue high-level careers in government and academia, and as such stands as one of the symbols of Republican meritocracy, along with École nationale d'administration and École Polytechnique ("X"), offer