In 1961, a School of Application was created at the Department of Statistics and Economic Studies of Côte d’Ivoire. This establishment was initially limited to the training of officials of the corps of Statistical Officers, recruited through a professional entry exam among the clerks of the service or through a direct entry exam, open to candidates holding the First Cycle of Secondary Studies Certificate (BEPC). During the same year, the school welcomed students from French-speaking countries neighbouring Côte d’Ivoire.
Its field of recruitment was then extended to Madagascar in 1964; Senegal in 1967 and gradually to the countries of Central Africa: Congo People’s Republic in 1966, Gabon in 1967, Rwanda in 1968, Central African Republic and Chad Republic in 1969, Zaire Republic in 1970.
In 1969, the school even welcomed a student from the French territory of the AFARS and lSSAS (now known as the Republic of DJIBOUTI) and in 1971, one from the Comoros Archipelago.
In 1963, the School of Application was renamed the School of Statistics and became an educational institution under the direct authority of the Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Planning. Its vocation was extended to the training in 2 years of senior managers called “Heads of Works”. Currently, it refers to the Engineering in Statistics (ITS) programme, a sector which is marked by various reforms aimed at improving the level of trained managers.
In 1968, the School experienced further growth with the creation of another body of Statisticians: the Assistants Statistical Officers.
In 1982, Decree No. 82.219 of 3 March 1982 extended the objectives of the School to the training of statisticians at the highest level, the Senior Statistician-Economist (ISE) programme. This same decree gives it the name “École Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Économie Appliquée”, ENSEA (Institute of Statistics and Applied Economist).
In 1984, ENSEA signed an agreement with the INS of Niger to open a training course in Niamey for Advanced Statistical Officers
In 1987, the School opened the Senior Statistician-Economist (ISE) training course, which had until then been delivered by the ESDC in Paris.
A new course was created at the beginning of the 2002-2003 school year: the Diploma of Advanced Studies in Statistical Analysis Applied to Development (DESS-ASAD). This course is organized in partnership with the University of Cocody (Abidjan) and the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France).
In 2005, ENSEA signed an agreement with the INSD of Burkina Faso to open a training course in Ouagadougou for Advanced Statistical Officers at the National School of Financial Governance (Ecole Nationale des Régies Financières).
Also in 2005, ENSEA obtained the label “WAEMU Regional Centre of Excellence”.
In 2008, ENSEA opened at the request of the INS of Niger, a two classes special training cycle for the Assistants Statistical Officer.
The auditors of this cycle were reclassified after one year of training in the functions of Senior Statisticians within the Nigerian statistical apparatus.
In 2010, ENSEA signed an agreement with INSTAT of Madagascar to open a training course in Antananarivo for Advanced Statistical Officers.
In 2015, the World Bank awarded ENSEA the label of African Centre of Excellence in Statistical Training.
Since 2017, the school has been offering new training courses, namely:
- Master’s degree in Agricultural Statistics;
- Master’s degree in Actuarial Science;
- Master in Data Science;
- Doctoral Training
Since its creation, rigour and assiduity have always characterized the school.
On August 4, 2017, on the occasion of the National Day of Excellence, the President of the Republic awarded him the prize for the most modern public administration in Côte d’Ivoire. This award was celebrated on the occasion of the first edition of the Day of Excellence and Merit in the presence of Mrs KABA NIALE, Minister of Planning and Development.
In 2018, ENSEA opened a doctoral programme within the Joint Research and Innovation Unit (UMRI) Statistics and Applied Economics (UMRI-SEA). The institution organised the first edition of the International Conference on Statistics and Applied Economics (CISEA), which brought together researchers from all over the world at ENSEA. Since then, the CISEA has become the annual meeting of African researchers around relevant research themes. It is usually organised every year in the month of June, sometimes alternating with summer universities.
The year 2019 saw the international accreditation of the Engineering in Statistics and Economics (ISE) programme by the the French Engineering Board (Commission des Titres des Ingénieurs), obtained with the Eur-Ace Label for the period 2019-2025. That same year, the work on the research and cooperation building was completed.
In 2020, ENSEA embarked on a process of pedagogical renovation of its training programmes with the opening of the Statistics Analysts (AS) programme and the organisation for the last competitive entrance exam of the Engineering in Statistics (ITS) and (Statistical Officer) AD programmes.
2021 confirmed ENSEA’s maturity at all levels. The school celebrated its sixtieth anniversary with the organisation of several scientific and research activities:
- The organisation for the first time in sub-Saharan Africa of the Africa Summer School in Econometrics (ASSE 2021).
- The organisation of the African Meeting of the Econometric Society which is a prestigious continental event for all economists in the world.
- The organisation of the first ENSEA doctoral days.
For the single year 2021, all the classes’ graduates from the different training courses were named after the name of their sponsor, His Excellency the Prime Minister Patrick ACHI.