The École Nationale Supérieure de Pâtisserie (ENSP), a world-renowned institution in the arts of pastry and ice cream, located in Yssingeaux in the Haute-Loire department of France, has announced the opening of its new campus extension.
Following work which began in June 2022, the ENSP now benefits from an additional 2,300 m2 space, including new laboratories and student accommodation, in addition to that in the historic Château that houses the prestigious school. These premises enable the ENSP to offer its students a unique 7,000m2 learning space.
Founded in 1984 and acquired in 2007 by Alain Ducasse and Yves Thuriès, the ENSP has established itself as the benchmark school of excellence in the world of the sweet arts for training in pastry-making, chocolate-making, confectionery, ice cream-making and baking.
With its 17 pastry chef trainers and 25 academic professors, the school trains over 1,500 students from more than 60 different nationalities throughout the year.
A broad portfolio of programs caters for all training needs in the field: from post-baccalaureate courses such as the three-year Diplôme Supérieur des Arts Pâtissiers, to retraining programs including the eight-month CAP Pâtissier, the two-month French pastry Arts Essentials program, and the one-year French pastry Arts Diploma.
In addition to these programs, 68 professional training courses lasting between two and three days are held on site, taught by Meilleurs Ouvriers de France (best craftsmen), world champions and well-known experts. The great names in French and international patisserie have been trained here and return to perfect their techniques. It was this growing demand for pastry training that prompted the expansion project.
With three new classrooms and four new laboratories, as well as the creation of 36 apartments for students, this extension to the ENSP will enable École Ducasse to welcome a greater number of French and international students, and to meet the increasing demand for training in the pastry, bakery, chocolate, confectionery and ice cream trades.
Elise Masurel, Managing Director of École Ducasse, said: “We are very proud of the outcome of this project, which enables us to instil the excellence of our schools even more firmly in France, in parallel to our international development.”
Luc Debove, Director and Executive Chef of the ENSP, World Ice Cream Champion and Meilleur Ouvrier de France Glacier, winner of the Ordre National du Mérite Agricole, and leader of the current project, commented: “This extension is the culmination of a great collective project supported by Laurent Wauquiez, President of the Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Isabelle Valentin, MP for first constituency of Haute-Loire and Pierre Liogier, our Mayor of Yssingeaux. It is not just the ENSP that is becoming the world’s largest school dedicated to the sweet arts, but Yssingeaux and the whole region that are becoming a strategic hub for patisserie worldwide.”
École Ducasse is a network of schools dedicated to the transmission of outstanding French expertise and excellence in culinary and pastry arts, with three schools in France – Paris Studio, Paris Campus and the ENSP – as well as Manila Campus in the Philippines, Gurugram Campus in India and Nai Lert Bangkok Studio in Thailand. All are united by a desire to share a passion for gastronomy with seasoned professionals as well as food enthusiasts, career changers and students.