Last year, four students from the China-France Mathematical Talents Class (CFMTC) of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) were admitted to the Institut Polytechnique de Paris, now two other students ZHU Qimeng and ZHANG Shengjun from the same class. , Promotion 2019 in its third year, are admitted to the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris (ENS, Ulm), which has always been honored as the “Cradle of Fields Medalists” in the field of mathematics.
The agreement to create the CFMTC was signed in early 2019 between the USTC and the Fondation Mathématiques Jacques Hadamard (FMJH) and the Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris (FSMP), in the hope of fostering the cultivation of talents and international collaboration in the field of mathematics. . The Consulate General of France in Shanghai also accelerated the construction of the program to a large extent, and led to the establishment of the very first class in September of the same year. As part of the agreement, at least 9 other candidates in their fourth year will be allowed to pursue doctoral studies in France with a scholarship. Today, CFMTC has quickly become one of USTC’s leading paradigms of international talent cultivation program on the university’s path to building a world-class university.
As a four-year program, the CFMTC is available to USTC freshmen who are in good standing. After entering USTC, based on their mathematics and physics competition results, and the result of the first USTC mathematics examination, the education committee of the Chinese side will conduct an oral examination to choose approximately the top 25 students. Students will receive French lessons every week. The mastery of the French language of the CFMTC student who has completed 1.75 years of study must be equivalent to level B2 of the CEFR. Students will take 2.5 years to complete the study, which is equivalent to the 1.75 year preparatory education in France. Courses for 1.5 years are restricted option and free option. Public classes remain as usual and physics will be taught specialized. From the second year, most mathematics lessons will be taught by French teachers. Chinese teachers include Yang Cao, Shibing Chen, Bangxian Han, Jiayu LI, Yongqi Liang, Xinan Ma.
The Latin Quarter, where the ENS is located, has been known as the very heart of Paris throughout the centuries for its rich intellectual and cultural activity. As a pre-doctoral and doctoral higher education institution and a leading research center in France, the ENS has fifteen teaching and research departments, covering the main disciplines of the humanities and sciences. Both a French Grande Ecole and a university, it still ranks between the first and third French institutions in many international rankings. ENS alumni include 11 Fields Medalists, 12 Nobel Prize winners, 5 Wolf Prize winners and 2 French Presidents. Renowned mathematicians such as A. Weil, E. Cartan, H. Cartan is a graduate of the ENS, and the Ecole Bourbaki is an offshoot of the ENS.
Each year, the ENS receives more than thousands of international applications, but only between 5 and 10% of them meet the eligibility criteria, which vary from one year to the next. Only 3 finalist candidates from mainland China are finally admitted to the mathematics major since the ENS opens this year 20 positions for international students, 10 positions in Sciences including Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, Cognitive Sciences, and 10 positions in Arts and Humanities.
