In his final engagement before resigning as finance minister last year, Emmanuel Macron, now the president of France, visited one of the country鈥檚 most prestigious higher education institutions.

鈥淗e spoke to each and every start-up based at our business incubator centre, discussed their projects, and they all took selfies with him,鈥� Jacques Biot, the president of 脡cole Polytechnique, who hosted Mr Macron鈥檚 visit to the Paris grande 茅肠辞濒别 in August 2016, told聽探花视频.

And while Mr Biot declared himself 鈥渧ery happy鈥� that the 39-year-old former investment banker had won the presidential run-off against far-Right candidate Marine Le Pen on 7 May, entrepreneurs at his institution will be even more thrilled.

With Mr Macron in the 脡lys茅e Palace, 鈥渟ome start-ups will raise funds for their businesses much more easily鈥� thanks to their Macron selfies, joked Mr Biot, who is himself a successful entrepreneur and investor in health sciences who took the reins of his alma mater in July 2013.

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Mr Macron鈥檚 vocal support聽for science 鈥� which has included a video message to US scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs in 聽urging them to relocate to France 鈥� would seem to augur well for 脡cole Polytechnique, a highly research-intensive institution, where about 30 per cent of graduates later take a PhD.

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Mr Biot, who in the 1980s served as an adviser to Laurent Fabius, the Socialist prime minister, thought that Mr Macron had spoken 鈥渕uch more about excellence than size鈥� 鈥� a reference to continuing reforms to bring together many of France鈥檚 often tiny higher education institutions into clusters with a critical mass that will allow them to crack the upper echelons of global university rankings inhabited by the likes of Harvard, Stanford and Oxford universities.

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The largest of these 鈥渕ega-universities鈥� is Paris-Saclay, a campus south of the French capital where 脡cole Polytechnique has been based聽since the 1970s. Adjacent to 脡cole Polytechnique,some 60,000 students and 11,000 academic staff at 19 institutions will be based on the campus, with the project, awarded the equivalent of 拢6 billion in initial funding, likely to produce about 15 per cent of France鈥檚 research each year.

Mr Macron鈥檚 emphasis on promoting excellence, rather than stressing the need for ever-larger universities, will help 脡cole Polytechnique (which has just 3,000 students) to 鈥渟tay on the verge of Saclay鈥�, said Mr Biot, and not sacrifice its august history. 鈥淧olytechniciens鈥� attend their graduation ceremony in Napoleonic-style military uniforms, a nod to the institution鈥檚 origins as a military academy founded at the end of 18th century to train engineers.

While 脡cole Polytechnique remains at the heart of the Saclay project, it has been made clear to the institution that it "would not lose our name, brand or our strategic agility,鈥� Mr Biot said聽on a visit to London to launch an 鈧�80 million (拢67 million) fundraising campaign.

While France鈥檚 grandes 茅肠辞濒别s have been criticised for their arcane admissions procedures 鈥� applicants must complete a two-year preparatory course after high school before taking a national exam 鈥� Mr Biot said that his institution鈥檚 creation of different admission routes and, from this autumn, several new English-only programmes showed that it was far more progressive than often perceived.

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鈥淎bout 30 per cent of students are international on our French language courses, of whom 15 per cent do not speak French fluently when they come here,鈥� he explained.

鈥淎bout 40 per cent of students on our [English language courses] do not speak French when they arrive, but they will learn when they join our programme,鈥� he said, emphasising the flexibility that has allowed the institution to recruit highly able students from across the world, including one of its first students from the UK.

In many respects, 脡cole Polytechnique is 鈥渘ot a grande 茅肠辞濒别 any more鈥�, argued Mr Biot, because it had 鈥渟tepped away鈥� from primarily domestic recruitment into a worldwide pursuit of talent.

鈥淭丑别 grande 茅肠辞濒别 model is limiting when it can recruit only from a closed reservoir of certain students 鈥� it does not have the richness if you cannot tap into a worldwide reservoir of students,鈥� he said, adding that his institution鈥檚 annual tuition fees of 鈧�12,000 (拢10,300) also set it apart from its French educational counterparts, which often charge only minimal fees.

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Many of its most outstanding recent students and alumni had come from francophone countries in West Africa, among them Credit Suisse chief executive Tidjane Thiam, who is from Ivory Coast, Mr Biot said. Applications were now arriving from South Africa and countries in East Africa, as well as Russia and Switzerland, he added.

脡cole Polytechnique鈥檚 ambitions to attract the very best scientific minds 鈥� 40 per cent of its faculty are international 鈥� will chime with Mr Macron鈥檚 desire to win the global race for scientific talent, so the institution can probably expect a few more selfies on campus with the young French president over the next five years.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com