Cyril Cassagnaud, Class of 2021

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND? 

The guiding principle of my career is to train myself to solve the environmental and social problems we are facing. This has led me to cultivate a triple educational foundation: scientific, political and administrative.

After obtaining a scientific baccalaureate at the Lycée Jean Moulin in Béziers, I entered a preparatory class for the Grandes Ecoles in the PCSI/PSI stream at the Lycée Joffre in Montpellier. 

I then decided to join the department of Fluid Mechanics, Energy and Environment (MF2E) of the' École nationale supérieure d'électrotechnique, d'électronique, d'informatique, d'hydraulique et des télécommunications' (Toulouse INP-ENSEEIHT), because of the Environmental Engineering specialisation in the final year. In the end, I chose the Sustainable Development Engineering specialisation because I wanted to understand technological and environmental issues in a systemic and interdisciplinary way, with modelling and evaluation tools. My engineering training ended with an end-of-study internship as a consultant at Carbone 4, a consultancy firm specialising in low-carbon strategy and adaptation to climate change. 

After this experience in the consulting world, I wanted to strengthen my ability to analyse environmental but also economic and social issues in an interdisciplinary way with the aim of working in favour of ecological transformation. In 2019, I continued my academic career at Sciences Po within the Master in Public Policy, Public Administration policy stream. I hesitated between the Energy, Environment and Sustainability policy stream but I wanted to leave my comfort zone and discover new disciplines such as public law, economics, public finance and social issues. 

Passionate about the subjects covered in these lectures, I wanted to deepen my knowledge of them by joining, in parallel with my Master's degree, the Sciences Po competitive entrance exam course to prepare for the external competitive entrance exam for the École Nationale d'Administration (ENA) and the external competitive entrance exam for chief engineers at the Institut National des Études Territoriales (INET). These two competitions resulted in an eligibility and an admission respectively. I will join the INET in April 2022, for a period of one year, to become in the short term a senior manager in local authorities of more than 40,000 inhabitants. 

WHAT WERE THE MAIN STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR PROFESSIONAL PATH? 

I am convinced that the State and local authorities have a major role to play in implementing the ecological transformation. From this conviction stems my desire to put my skills at the service of this great systemic challenge and, more broadly, at the service of our fellow citizens to improve our public services. This professional project was not obvious when I entered Toulouse INP-ENSEEIHT, but it was gradually built up and solidified at Sciences Po. 

The first step was to realise that I was not the only student who wanted to have a positive impact on society. There were two founding elements in my commitment to the environment: a reflection on the role and place of engineers in the 21st century and the massive mobilisation of young people to face environmental challenges.  

In 2017, after watching the documentary 'Ingénieur pour Demain' (Engineer for Tomorrow), I noticed that several students from my class were facing the same questions: as an engineer, do we only have the choice between research and big companies? Can we apply our ecological or social values to our profession? Nothing was in place to offer them concrete answers. I therefore initiated, with two classmates, a process of bringing together all the stakeholders of the institution with the aim of bringing about changes in the teaching and the promotion of new professional perspectives.

This approach allowed me to discover the study of socio-technical controversies. After realising that the voices of engineers and scientists were relatively less audible in the public debate and less present in decision-making bodies than other professions, I started to enquire about the masters offered at Sciences Po. It was also at this point in my studies that I discovered new professional perspectives by doing an internship at the Conseil départemental de l'Hérault, in the Technical Directorate for Assistance to Communities.

The second element was reading the Student Manifesto for an Ecological Awakening in September 2018, to which I, like 33,000 students, signed, feeling united by the same need to act in the face of the environmental emergency and a common conviction to change the economic system in which we no longer believe. 

The second step was my participation in the Carbone 4 study "Doing your part": responsibilities of individuals, companies and the state and my further study at Sciences Po. The aim of the study was to analyse the nature and intensity of individual and collective efforts required to achieve the objectives of the Paris climate agreement, i.e. 2 tonnes of CO2/person/year in 2050, compared with 9.9 tonnes in 2019. The conclusions I drew from the study were, on the one hand, that it is futile to claim to be solving the climate issue by placing the exclusive responsibility for action on individuals, and on the other hand, that the State and local authorities have a crucial role to play in bringing about the ecological transformation. Indeed, the latter must define and plan a strategic framework to achieve the environmental objectives set at national level. To make these plans operational, they can finance and operate public services and infrastructure. To ensure a coherent deployment of the plans, they accompany, guide and coordinate the actions of numerous stakeholders in the territories. These are all challenges that I wanted to take part in at the end of the study. 

By joining Sciences Po, I wanted to understand the functioning of the State, local authorities and public policies in order to enter a more operational phase of my career. By studying at Sciences Po, I acquired the knowledge necessary to become a versatile, responsible engineer-high-ranking civil servant driven by the common good. 

The third stage was that of professional confirmation during my end-of-study internship at the Ministry of Labour, at the General Delegation for Employment and Professional Training (DGEFP). My main task was to analyse the integration of the ecological transition into the EDEC system. These are multi-year agreements concluded between the Ministry of Labour and one or more professional branches for the implementation of an action plan to deal with economic, technological, legal and now ecological changes. I really enjoyed working in the central administration and I was able to observe the importance of coordination between the central and deconcentrated levels. I realised that there was a discrepancy between the objectives and orientations given in environmental matters at central level and their concrete integration into the system. This difficulty, which is found in many public policies, is partly due to the technical nature of environmental issues and the difficulty for public agents to integrate these new priorities into public policies without specific training. This is an observation that was also made by the public officials who signed the petition "Responding to the climate challenge requires training for all public officials" in December 2021. 

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMPETITIONS DURING YOUR MASTER 2 YEAR?

It was a demanding year, especially during the lockdown periods, but it went well because I anticipated the deadlines and prioritised my objectives. The first was to complete the Master 2. The second was to enter ENA or the INET chief engineer stream. At this stage, I must confess that at the beginning of the preparatory course I limited myself on my objectives: I thought that entering ENA was impossible and that it was preferable to orientate my preparation to enter INET. But after exchanging with senior civil servants and obtaining good results during the first rounds, I reviewed my objectives and readjusted my preparation in order to take the two competitions.

During the first semester, I had to juggle between the Master 2 courses, the preparatory courses and the exams. During the second semester, still following the prep courses, I had 3 challenges: 

- Finding the right balance between synthesising ("ficher" in the preparation jargon) the programme and learning it in view of the two mock competitions (mid-February and end of May);

- To meet the tasks I was given when I was on placement at the DGEFP, while not falling behind by the first challenge; 

- To implement the "Waking up the Government" initiative, without prejudicing the first two challenges, as the climate clock was still ticking.

After graduating at the beginning of June 2021, I started the second part of the marathon and concentrated entirely on preparing for the written and then the oral exams of the ENA and the INET exams. The ENA exams are like a decathlon: there are 5 written exams (public law, economics, general culture, social issues and public finance) which are spread out over the last week of August. After these exams, I moved on to the INET written exams at the beginning of September, with some fatigue that had accumulated but always with the desire to give my best during the written exams, which are also very demanding.

September was the most difficult month to prepare for the ENA and INET oral exams without knowing the results of the written exams. 

In October, the second part of the decathlon began for eligible ENA candidates: 5 oral tests (international questions, European questions, grand oral, group simulation, English). For the INET, there were 3 tests (group simulation, grand oral, English) in November, which sometimes overlapped with those of the ENA. 

The quality of the courses given by the teachers of the competitive entrance exam preparation course was invaluable in getting straight to the point, whether in terms of methodology or references, in the face of a vast programme that had to be understood in a short time. I would like to thank them for their support and advice. I would also like to thank the teaching staff for having allowed the students to continue the course remotely.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR INITIATIVE "THE AWAKENING OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES" THAT YOU INITIATED WITH ANOTHER STUDENT, CAROLE MEFFRE, WITHIN THE COLLECTIVE 'FOR AN ECOLOGICAL AWAKENING?'

The collective was created in 2018 following the publication of the Student Manifesto for an Ecological Awakening, garnering 33,000 signatures. Our actions are focused on employment and training. In terms of employment, we have, for example, questioned the 100 largest French companies on their consideration of environmental issues. In terms of training, we created a platform for students to help them transform their institutions. We then published the Grand Baromètre, a national survey on how ecology is taken into account in higher education. 

We demand transparency because information and knowledge are essential to take action and to ensure that the actions of companies and schools are effective. This is why the answers to the questionnaires (companies and higher education institutions) are available in full on our website.

In February 2021, we realised that we had not once approached the public authorities. And yet, students from numerous institutions training for public service jobs had largely signed the Manifesto: 800 students from the Institutes of Political Studies, 700 from the École Polytechnique, 200 from the Écoles Nationales Supérieures and nearly 600 from the Faculties of Law and Political Science. The State's response to the environmental issue is therefore decisive for the career choices of the signatories and, more generally, of students today. 

With Carole Meffre and a dozen students and civil servants (from ENM, IPEF, Mines, INSEE), we designed, with the support of public servants, and sent questionnaires in July 2021 to the central administrations of 13 ministries, to the Parliament and its administrative services, and to the financial, judicial and administrative courts. 

These questionnaires address both internal (strategy, governance, assessment and reduction of environmental impacts, training of staff) and external (relations with public authorities and citizens, public policies, decisions and their implementation) issues of these institutions.  For example, we asked central administrations how they design, manage and evaluate their public policies in relation to France's environmental objectives (SNBC, PPE, SNB). 

Starting out, we were a little apprehensive because we were addressing the highest institutions of France and we had no guarantee of getting a response. We had the feeling that the administration and the institutions of the State were unreachable. However, our response rate was around 60%. We were pleasantly surprised to quickly receive several favourable responses from the Council of State, the Court of Auditors and several ministries: the Economy, the Interior, Justice, the Ecological Transition, etc.

Having published the responses, we now need to analyse them. Our aim is, on the one hand, to synthesise the good practices so that they can be disseminated widely within the public sector and, on the other hand, to formulate proposals to address the limitations and difficulties faced by administrations. This analysis will be the subject of a specific publication and presentation in the second half of 2022. 

Depending on the impact of our approach, we plan to extend it to the hospital and territorial public services, which were not included in our study. 

WHAT CONTRIBUTIONS DID YOUR STUDY AT THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS MAKE TO THE POSITION YOU HOLD TODAY AT INET? 

The School of Public Affairs (EAP) first of all opened up a new field of professional and associative reflection and action by introducing me to the mechanisms of public policy and public actors, in particular the major schools of public service. 

Professionally, it was by working with teachers and alumni who were senior civil servants that I discovered the richness of a career in public administration. 

In terms of student organisations, studying at EAP gives students time to get involved alongside their studies. For example, I was able to discover public authorities from a new angle by organising conferences and events when I was in charge of the Public Administration course within the School of Public Affairs Association. 

The School of Public Affairs allowed me to deepen and acquire the skills to become a senior civil servant capable of working at a territorial, national or European level. 

The enrichment of my skills came from the integration between my studies at EAP and my studies at Toulouse-INP ENSEEIHT. In engineering school I learnt how to solve problems, at Sciences Po I learnt how to formulate problems and proposals to answer them, taking into account environmental, political, social and economic issues. 

The acquisition of technical skills comes from subjects such as public law, public finance or economics, which are at the heart of public service. The method of analysis and the ability to express myself oratorically that I have developed thanks to the EAP and the administrative exam preparation course will be particularly valuable for the rest of my career, whether during my training at the INET or during my first position in April 2023.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO GIVE A STUDENT OR A FUTURE YOUNG GRADUATE?

First of all, during this period of reflection on the prospects for further study for students in their final year of secondary school, I would like to advise them to be curious, to go and talk to students or teachers in higher education, during open days, in order to find out more about the different training courses, and not to limit themselves to certain paths of study. This last point is crucial, especially for students from working-class and modest backgrounds: the Grandes Écoles and wider society need your open-mindedness, your ingenuity and your determination. 

If you pass the selection process, it will not be easy every day. There will be financial difficulties but there are solutions (grants, loans, etc.). There will be intellectual and social challenges, but you will overcome them thanks to your extraordinary ability to adapt. At the end, you will have the satisfaction of having succeeded in overcoming many barriers, which will be less high for the ones after you, who you will be able to offer support.   

If you fail to enter the selective courses or choose not to continue your studies in higher education, bear in mind that the most useful and valuable jobs for society do not necessarily require a university education. There are many ways to achieve personal and professional fulfillment, and you will find them, sometimes by adopting a collective spirit so that you do not go it alone in the face of your questions.

Secondly, I want to tell students, especially in preparatory classes, that talent is not everything. To achieve your goals, you will need a mixture of hard work, curiosity, rigour, perseverance, motivation, a desire for continuous improvement and optimism. It will also be necessary to recognise and accept the element of chance and randomness inherent in exams. 

For those candidates who were not eligible or admitted to the public service schools and who are going back for a year of preparatory courses. Doors will eventually open. I know it's not easy, having experienced it in secondary school, but, with hindsight, you'll see that sometimes it's better to succeed in adversity. Seneca wrote in regard to this that “No tree becomes rooted and sturdy unless many a wind assails it. For by its very tossing it tightens its grip and plants its roots more securely.”

Finally, at a time when human activities are threatening the sustainability of living organisms and when environmental and social injustices are on the rise, I would like to invite young graduates and the people who will read these lines to ask themselves the following questions: To what extent is my professional activity compatible with a low-carbon society that preserves biodiversity? To what extent does this activity, my personal commitments and political choices allow for the construction of a democracy of fellow human beings, in which everyone is respected and recognised as useful to the community? 

As for myself, I have not yet answered these questions in detail. I am moving forward with them as a compass to guide the sails of my journey towards an Earth that will remain habitable for all living things and that will enable human beings to make the motto of the French Republic effective. 

learn more

• >The Public Administration policy stream of the School of Public Affairs 
• The preparation for the French administrative competitions of the School of Public Affairs (in French)

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