Senegal's Grandes Ecoles Concours: ENA, ENSA, Polytechnique de Thies and Others

Two Separate Admission Tracks in Senegal

Senegal runs two parallel routes into public higher education. Most baccalaureat holders get placed into a public university through campusen.sn , the national orientation platform run by the Ministry of Higher Education. Grandes ecoles, the selective schools that train administrators, engineers and agronomists, sit outside this system and recruit through their own concours, each with a separate application window, fee and exam.

ENA: Training Senegal's Civil Service

The Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) trains senior public administrators, magistrates and diplomats. It runs a direct concours for younger candidates coming straight from a qualifying diploma and a professional concours for serving civil servants seeking promotion into higher administrative grades. For the 2024 session, registration for the entrance concours ran from October 21 to November 22, 2024, according to Samabac.sn . Written tests began with psychotechnical exams on January 19, 2025, with further eligibility tests in February and March, and the intake's opening ceremony took place July 3, 2025.

ENSA Thies: Training Agronomic Engineers

The Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Agriculture (ENSA) in Thies has been part of Universite Iba Der Thiam de Thies since 2006 and trains agronomic engineers. Its entrance exam is open to Terminale-level students and bacheliers in the scientific series (S1 through S5), with an age limit around 22 by the start of the intake year. Applications run entirely online through concoursensa.com, and the entrance exam fee is 7,500 FCFA, paid via Orange Money, per GuindiMa Senegal . The exam covers mathematics, biology and physics-chemistry, sat at around twenty centers across the country on the same day.

EPT: Senegal's Leading Engineering School

The Ecole Polytechnique de Thies (EPT) trains engineers across several specializations and runs its own first-year entrance concours, separate from both ENA and ENSA. Registration goes through concours.ept.edu.sn , where candidates submit an online application before sending a physical file to EPT's registrar in Thies or to an accredited relay point. Results for each session appear directly on ept.sn.

What Makes Concours Different from campusen

Campusen handles automatic orientation: bacheliers list preferences, and the system places them into a public university faculty based on their series and results. Grandes ecoles concours work differently. Students apply directly to the school, sit written and sometimes oral exams specific to that school, and compete for a fixed number of seats regardless of their campusen orientation. A student can be placed into a university through campusen and still sit ENA, ENSA or EPT's concours separately, and an offer from a grande ecole generally overrides an existing campusen placement.

Applying to More Than One School

Because each concours has its own calendar, fee and eligibility rules, students aiming for a grande ecole should track each school's official site directly rather than relying on campusen for updates. Missing a registration window is the most common reason capable candidates lose a shot at ENA, ENSA or EPT, since these windows often last only a few weeks and do not reopen until the next annual cycle. Keep baccalaureat certificates, ID documents and passport photos ready in advance so a file can go in as soon as a concours opens.