ENS and Sorbonne University Congratulate Nicușor Dan

Sorbonne Paris Nord University congratulated Nicușor Dan on winning the presidential election, in a Facebook message that also highlighted the academic journey of Romania’s newly elected president, who attended the university and earned a PhD in mathematics.

“Sorbonne Paris Nord University extends its congratulations to Nicușor Dan, elected President of Romania on 18 May 2025. Born in 1969, Nicușor Dan distinguished himself early on as a mathematics prodigy, winning two gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad. After studying at the École Normale Supérieure, he joined Sorbonne Paris Nord University, where he defended a PhD thesis in fundamental mathematics in 1998 titled ‘Green Currents and Meromorphic Extension,’ under the supervision of Christophe Soulé and Daniel Barsky. Nicușor Dan embodies the success of a Franco-Romanian academic path. The university is proud to count Romania’s new president among its former doctoral students,” the university wrote Tuesday on Facebook.

The day before, the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) also congratulated him.

“The administration of École Normale Supérieure extends its heartfelt congratulations to Nicușor Dan, a former student of the School, elected on Sunday, 18 May 2025, as President of Romania,” the prestigious Paris-based institution said in a press release on Monday.

According to the president-elect’s CV, Nicușor Dan studied at ENS between 1992 and 1995, before completing a master’s degree and PhD in mathematics in Paris.

“Admitted through the ENS international entrance exam in 1992 and a gold medalist at the International Mathematical Olympiad, he later returned to Romania after completing his doctoral thesis in mathematics, where he co-founded and led, among other initiatives, the École Normale Supérieure of Bucharest,” the institution noted.

ENS emphasized that “his career path exemplifies at the highest level all the values promoted by ENS: international openness, academic excellence, and commitment to public service.”

The École Normale Supérieure (ENS) is one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in France and Europe, renowned for its academic excellence and for shaping the intellectual and scientific elite of France.

Its alumni include Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Laurent Schwartz, and several Nobel Prize winners or Fields Medal winners, the most prestigious international award for excellence in mathematical research, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize, which is awarded only to mathematicians. It is often compared to universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, or Harvard in terms of academic influence and level of excellence, although it has a very different model, specific to the French system.