ENSL's students usually enjoy a special civil servant status in the wake of highly competitive exams, providing they pursue careers in public service.

[4] Although it maintains extensive connections with the University of Lyon and external research institutions, including the CNRS, the school remains independent.

As part of France's process of decentralisation, the Schools' scientific departments moved in 1987 to Gerland, an old industrial district of Lyon, in the premises of the current Monod campus.

In 2000, this school, informally renamed École normale supérieure lettres et sciences humaines, was transferred to the new Descartes Campus also located in Gerland.

On the first of January 2010, the two branches merged to become a single institution, retaining the name École normale supérieure de Lyon.

[6][7][8] Grandes Écoles typically they have much smaller class sizes and student bodies than public universities in France, and many of their programs are taught in English.

While most Grandes Écoles are more expensive than French universities, ENS de Lyon charges the same tuition fees: €243 annually for the master's degree in 2021–2022; €184 for the Bachelor's.

[9] International internships, study abroad opportunities, and close ties with government and the corporate world are a hallmark of the Grandes Écoles.

ENSL retains its close links to the classes préparatoires which prepare high-level students – previously selected on the basis of their academic record – for the competitive entrance examination that is taken after two years of pluridisciplinary undergraduate-level study.

Students who succeed in the entrance examinations, which attract some 6000 candidates for 228 positions, are known as normaliens-élèves; those who are from France or another European Union country are considered trainee public servants, and receive a salary for their studies during 4 years.