The École pratique des hautes études , abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is highly selective and member of the elite Paris Science et Lettres (with ENS Ulm, EHESS or Ecole des Mines ...). Its degrees in religious studies and in history count among the best in the world. Closely linked to École française d'Extrême-Orient and Institut français du Proche-Orient, EPHE has formed continuously world-class expert in Asian and Islamic studies and among them investment bankers, diplomat and military officers specialized in these areas. Particularly, leading researchers in military strategy have taught in EPHE for more than a century (for example the famous Hervé Coutau-Bégarie). Moreover famous researchers in natural sciences (especially neurosciences and chemistry) teach and taught in EPHE (among them Jean Baptiste Charcot and Marcellin Berthelot). Highly regarded for its top level in both natural and human sciences, EPHE has relations and exchange programs with world-renowned institutions such as Cambridge, Princeton, and Al-Azhar.

The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a leading French institution for research and higher education in the social sciences (understood in a broader sense than in English, including the humanities). Its administrative status allows its selection process to be both highly selective and open-minded. EHESS has educated for decades research and political elites and its professors (known as "directeurs d'études") are famous around the world (from historians such as Braudel or Febvre and anthropologists such as Levi-Strauss to Nobel Prize Jean Tirole through Bourdieu or Derrida). EHESS is part of  Paris Sciences et Lettres with elite French institutions like Ecole Normale Supérieure Ulm, Collège de France, Ecole des Mines etc. It is a founding member of both Paris School of Economics, Toulouse School of Economics and Aix Marseille School of Economics, the three French leading centers in Quantitative Economics. As a world leading institution in research and applied research EHESS has exchange programs with world leading universities such as Berkeley, Cambridge, Charles, Columbia, Humboldt, Kyoto, Lomonossov, Michigan, Oxford, Tokyo, the European Institute in Florence, etc. Also, there are many relations and exchange programs with top universities in Asia as there are world-renowned research centers on Asian Studies in EHESS.