How Concours Entrance Exams Work for Grandes Ecoles in Francophone Africa

What a Concours Is

A concours is a competitive entrance exam used across Francophone Africa to fill a fixed number of seats at a grande ecole. Unlike a university admission process built on open access or a simple pass mark, a concours ranks every candidate against every other candidate, then admits from the top of that ranking down until the seats run out.

You meet the concours model at engineering schools, business and management schools like ENCG and ISCAE-style institutions, public administration schools modeled on France's ENA, and several medical and health training programs.

Where Concours Culture Shows Up

• Engineering schools: Morocco's Concours National Commun , Tunisia's Concours Nationaux d'Entree aux Cycles de Formation d'Ingenieurs , and country-specific engineering concours elsewhere in the region.

• Business and commerce schools: entrance concours for ENCG-style commerce schools and ISCAE-style management schools.

• Public administration: concours for national schools of administration (ENA-style institutes) that train future civil servants.

• Health sciences: some medical, pharmacy and dental programs add a concours or entrance exam on top of the baccalaureat.

How the Written and Oral Rounds Work

Most concours split into two stages. The written stage tests core academic subjects tied to the school's field: mathematics and physics for engineering, economics and quantitative methods for business schools, general culture and law for administration schools. Only candidates who clear a minimum written score, or who rank inside a set multiple of the available seats, move to the oral stage.

The oral stage adds interviews, further subject tests, or both. Panels assess how you reason under pressure and communicate your answers, not just what you memorized. Your combined written and oral score sets your final rank, and that rank, matched against your list of preferred schools, decides your placement.

Why Rank Matters More Than a Pass Mark

A university exam usually sets one fixed bar: clear it and you pass. A concours works differently, since the number of available seats stays fixed regardless of how many candidates clear a given score. If ten thousand candidates compete for three hundred seats, only the top three hundred by rank get in, even when thousands more scored what would count as a strong result elsewhere.

This changes how you prepare. Aim not just to answer correctly, but to answer faster and more completely than most of the field, since marginal points at the top of the ranking often decide the last few seats.

How Students Prepare

Two years of classes preparatoires (CPGE), or a dedicated preparatory institute like Tunisia's IPEI network, is the standard preparation route for the most competitive concours, especially in engineering. CPGE and IPEI programs build the exact subject depth the concours tests, and give you regular practice under timed, ranked conditions similar to the real exam.

Some concours accept candidates straight from the baccalaureat or from university without a CPGE background, particularly for business schools and some administration schools, though competition for those seats runs high, and candidates often prepare independently with past papers and private tutoring.

University students also aim for a concours partway through their degree, an entry point often called admission parallele, using strong Licence-level results in a relevant subject to qualify for the exam.

Preparing Well

• ⏱️ Start with past concours papers from your target school, since format and difficulty repeat year to year.

• Track the official exam calendar directly from the ministry or school website, since dates shift and unofficial sites carry outdated information.

• Build a realistic preference list across several schools rather than only the most selective one, since your rank, not a simple pass mark, decides placement.

• Practice oral answers out loud, not just on paper, if your target concours includes an interview stage.