Established by a decree of the 17 October 2013 of the Prime Minister, the ENS Rennes is placed under the direct authority of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, and is a founder of the European University of Brittany.

Before 2013, it was a branch of the École normale supérieure de Paris-Saclay, but the great geographical distance between Cachan and Rennes gradually led to its being granted a greater level of autonomy.

The school is divided into five departments, which have a yearly intake of eighty to 100 normaliens, i. e. students who are granted the status of paid civil servants.

[2] Karine Beauchard The Annales Henri Lebesgue is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal covering mathematics that was established in 2018.

[3][5] Amongst the objectives of the journal are the promotion of responsible practices in scientific publishing and the guarantee of public availability of mathematical works in the long term.