This higher education establishment was raised from the scientific part of two establishments, ENS of Saint-Cloud (built in 1882) and Fontenay-aux-Roses (1880), created by Jules Ferry. They were open respectively to men and women. In 1987, the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Saint-Cloud was moved to Lyon, and restricted to scientific topics. The Fontenay-aux-Roses followed in 2002 and became the École normale supérieure lettres et sciences humaines, specialized in languages, social science, and literature.