Student exchange program with premiere military academy: world-renowned École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr in France
Selected Norwich corps and civilian students, who are U.S. citizens, may attend St-Cyr for an entire spring or fall semester. (For more information, visit the St-Cyr site.) St-Cyr provides tutors to help Norwich students "get up to speed" and succeed in academic courses in France. Individualized-study programs are available in history, international studies, political science and the sciences. To prepare for a semester at St-Cyr, students attend an immersion session in France during the previous summer.
When Norwich students complete the program at St-Cyr, they are capable of using the French language in a variety of fields. Continued study of the language prior to graduation provides our students with the opportunity to develop a level of proficiency that is greatly needed in international peacekeeping and military operations with multinational forces as well as diverse civilian occupations. French is used in an official capacity in more than 40 countries around the globe, and this program offers another exciting and invaluable educational and career-building opportunity for current and future students.
Enhancing International Understanding
by President Richard W. Schneider
We have an exchange program with l'École Spéciale Militaire de St-Cyr, the prestigious French military college.
St-Cyr is a remarkable place. As at Norwich, you can feel the history all around you when you walk on that campus. Founded by Napoleon, its longstanding, myriad traditions are still very much in evidence in their beautiful surroundings west of Paris.
What impresses me the most was the rigor and seriousness of their academic offerings. St-Cyr is one of the finest academic institutions in all France, and admission is very competitive. Their system is different, in that their students are commissioned before their senior year and have completed the equivalent of our bachelor's degree. The students who attend Norwich are impressive for their military bearing, their academic abilities and their interest in studying in America. They are welcome additions to our community.
One way that colleges and universities measure quality is by the quality of their associations. Our affiliation with St-Cyr brings us top-quality students and allows our students the opportunity to study in France. We live in a global society, and the diversity of international students on campus improves our intellectual climate immensely. Likewise, our students at Norwich can benefit greatly from travel, broadening their perspective by experiencing other cultures, other militaries and other languages.
As we look to the future, it is going to be more important than ever to provide our students with an array of opportunities for global travel and cultural assimilation. My hope is that we can continue to nurture affiliations with other esteemed international universities, especially other military colleges.
As happened when our cadets went to the Virginia Military Institute to help with their effort to integrate women, new ideas can be exchanged, new traditions explored -- and we can learn from each other. Exchange programs will be one of the building blocks we use as we lay the foundation for the Norwich of the future, reaching for higher academic quality and for increased recognition for the excellence of our teaching.
A Brief History of École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr
The École Spéciale Militaire de St-Cyr was founded on May 1, 1802 by Napoleon I. The school was first located in Fontainebleau near Paris in the buildings of the Maison Royale de St-Louis, a school founded in 1685 by Louis XIV for "impoverished" daughters of noblemen who had died for France. The cadets moved several times more, eventually settling in Saint-Cyr, located west of Paris, in 1808.
After Waterloo (1815), the school was disbanded. Until then, 4,401 officers had been trained, 3,338 of which had gone into the infantry. The École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr reopened in 1818 and operated until 1940. During the Nazi occupation of France in the Second World War, the school moved from Saint-Cyr, near Paris, to the south of France in Aix-en-Provence but was closed in November 1942. Allied bombings on June 12, June 20 and July 21, 1944, destroyed many buildings at the Saint-Cyr location. In 1945, the French military decided that future officers for all French armed services would train in one place. Officer training was moved to Coëtquidan in Brittany, France, and the school was then named the École Spéciale Militaire Interarmes (Special All-Arms Military School). Officer cadet training at the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr did not take place again until 1961. Statues and monuments from the Saint-Cyr location west of Paris were brought to Coëtquidan, along with the name, spirit and tradition of the school inaugurated under Napoleon's reign. Distinguished graduates of St-Cyr include French presidents MacMahon (1873-79) and de Gaulle (1958-69) and General Mitterand, the brother of the French president.
St-Cyr has retained many of the traditions and customs established during its first 40 years. For example, re-enactments of famous battles and ceremonies using authentic battle gear and uniforms of the period are staged every year. However, since 1802 several changes were made to the uniform and the school motto.
Napoleon's original motto: "Ils s'instruisent pour vaincre" ("They study to overcome/conquer/win") was changed by the restoration king, Louis XVIII, to: "Ils s'instruisent pour la Defense de la Patrie" ("They study for the defense of the homeland"). The Napoleonic version was used again from 1848 to 1870. That motto was next changed to "Honneur et Patrie" (Honor and Country") until 1918, when it reverted again to the original Napoleonic wording.
Profile of the French Cadet at Saint-Cyr
French students who enter the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr as cadets are about 21 years old and have already completed the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in a military or civilian preparatory college. Required majors are in engineering or science subjects or specialization in one of many other disciplines, such as classics, modern or ancient history, modern languages, applied modern languages, geography, science and economics, law, computer science, physical education, political science or Asian studies. Students who have graduated from a Grande École (a national polytechnic college) may also apply. To enter St-Cyr, French students must excel in competitive exams designed to evaluate general knowledge, aptitude and intelligence. In addition, applicants must sit for an interview and pass a test of physical ability.guidon bearer
About 51 percent succeed at their first attempt at admission, 43 percent at their second. After admission, students spend three years at the École Spéciale Militaire, the first of which primarily involves military training with some time devoted to academics. The last two years focus on academics with several one- to three-week breaks for military training. All cadets at St-Cyr are commissioned officers and attend school from September to the end of July.
