This volume examines the institutional identities of elite colleges in the Paris region against the backdrop of current transformation processes in the French higher education and research landscape. The focus is on the École normale supérieure de la rue d'Ulm and the École normale supérieure de Cachan, where expert interviews were conducted with lecturers, cultural events were observed and documents presenting the colleges' self-image were analysed. The publication is intended as a contribution to updating research on the system of elite education in France in the context of Pierre Bourdieu.

PD Dr Anne Schippling is an integrated researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon in Portugal and a private lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy III – Educational Sciences at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany.