Procedure for appointing the director of Sciences Po and schedule

Procedure for appointing the director of Sciences Po

A. The conditions of this appointment are set by article 27 of decree no. 2015-1829 of 29 December 2015, determining the statutes of the FNSP, and article 6 of decree no. 2016-24 of 18 January 2016, determining those of the Paris IEP.

These articles specify, in the same terms, the following points:

1. The FNSP’s Board of Directors (CA) and the Institute’s Board of Directors (CI of the IEP) set up a commission to prepare the proposal to the two Boards for the appointment of a new Administrator of the FNSP and a new President of the IEP respectively. 

Under normal circumstances, this commission must be set up no later than six months before the expiry of the term of office of the President of Sciences Po. In the present circumstances, it will be set up as soon as possible.

2. The commission’s remit is as follows:

• Issue a public invitation to tender, published in the Journal officiel de la République française.
• Examine applications and select those to be interviewed by the commission.
• Come to a decision on candidate(s) to propose, including several names if necessary, and submit it to the CA and the CI, each in their respective capacity. 

3. The 12-member commission is composed as follows:

• The four members of the FNSP Board of Directors’ (CA) steering committee: Laurence Bertrand Dorléac, Alexandre Mariani, Laurence Parisot, Sébastien Pimont.
• The four members of the IEP Board of Directors’ (CI) steering committee: Dina Waked, Simon Cordonnier, Inês Fontenelle, Adrien Lehman.
• Four qualified persons, French or foreign, independent of the two Boards and appointed by vote, two by the CA and two by the CI, with equal representation of women and men if possible.

The commission is jointly chaired by the Director of the FNSP Board and the Chair of the IEP Board; its resolutions shall be passed by a majority of the members present, who vote by secret ballot. 

B. How the procedure works.

1. Appointment of the four qualified independent members of the commission.

2. Creation of the job description and call for applications. 

3. Submission of applications.

4. As soon as the application deadline has expired, the commission meets to check the admissibility of candidates and select those it wishes to interview.

5. Shortlisted candidates are interviewed by the commission.

The interviews are not public. Each interview is followed by a brief presentation and a series of questions. Following these hearings, the commission makes its choice. Its proposal is then forwarded to the CA and the CI.

6. The CA and the CI vote by secret ballot on the commission’s proposal after interviewing the shortlisted candidates. 

If the two Boards agree on the same name, the joint proposal is forwarded to the appointing authority: the French Prime Minister for the President of the IEP de Paris, and the French Minister of Higher Education and Research for the Administrator of the FNSP.

If the deliberations are not concordant, articles 27 and 6 of the aforementioned decrees provide a mechanism to which we will refer.