École des hautes études en sciences sociales

The École des hautes études en sciences sociales, usually shortened to EHESS, is a graduate grande école and grand établissement in Paris devoted to research in the social sciences. It began as the Sixth Section of the École pratique des hautes études, created in 1868 to train academic researchers, and became an independent institution in 1975. Its research now spans the social sciences, the humanities and applied mathematics, while degrees in economics and finance are awarded through the Paris School of Economics. Entry is by a demanding selection based on the applicant's research project, and students then shape their own curriculum across its fields of research. Much of its faculty belongs to other bodies, chiefly the national scientific research centre and schools affiliated with PSL University.