University professor Xavier Crettiez admits he doesn't know the real names of many of the students in his course.

This is a very unusual situation in academia, but Professor Crettiez's work is far from conventional.

He actually trains French spies.

“I rarely know the “I have background checks on the intelligence agents when they are sent to the course, and anyway, I doubt the names they give me are real,” he says.

If you wanted to create a setting for a spy school, the Sciences Po Saint-Germain campus, on the outskirts of Paris, seems like a good choice.

With austere, even somber, early 20th-century buildings, surrounded by busy, monotonous roads, and large, intimidating metal gates, it has a very low-key feel.

What distinguishes the course is its unique diploma, which brings together students in their 20s and 30s with active members of the French secret services, typically between 35 and 50 years old.

The course is called Diplome sur le Renseignement et les Menaces Globales, which translates as Diploma in Intelligence and Global Threats.

It was developed by the university in partnership with the Academie du Renseignement, the training branch of the French secret services.

This came about following a request from French authorities a decade ago. After the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, the government launched a major recruitment campaign within French intelligence agencies.

It asked Sciences Po, one of France's leading universities, to create a new course to train potential new spies and provide continuing education for current agents.

Large French companies also quickly showed interest, both in having their security personnel attend the course and in hiring many of the young graduates.

The diploma consists of 120 hours of classes with modules spread over four months.For external students—spies and those doing internships—it costs around 5,000 euros ($5,900).

The main objective of the course is to identify threats wherever they are found and learn how to track and overcome them. Key topics include the economics of organized crime, Islamic jihadism, corporate intelligence gathering, and political violence.

Professors and Students

To attend one of the classes and talk to the students, I first had to go through a French security check. The topic of the lesson I attended was “intelligence and over-reliance on technology.”

One of the students I spoke to was a man in his forties who called himself Roger. He tells me in very precise and concise English that he is an investment banker. He adds: “I provide consulting services throughout West Africa, and I enrolled in the course so I could offer risk assessments to my clients there.” Professor Crettiez, who teaches on political radicalization, says that in recent years there has been a huge expansion of the French secret services. And that there are now around 20,000 agents in what he calls the “inner circle.” This is made up of the DGSE, which deals with foreign affairs and is the French equivalent of Britain’s MI6 or the US CIA. And the DGSI, which focuses on threats within France, like Britain’s MI5 or the US FBI. But he says it’s not just about terrorism. “There are two main security agencies, but also Tracfin, an intelligence agency specializing in money laundering, which is concerned about the rise in mafia activity, especially in the south of France, including corruption in the public and private sectors, mainly due to the enormous profits from illegal drug trafficking.”

Other instructors on the course include a DGSE official who was stationed in Moscow, a former French ambassador to Libya, and a senior Tracfin official. The head of security for the French energy giant EDF also teaches a module.

Private sector interest in the qualification is said to be growing. Large companies—particularly in the defense and aerospace sectors, but also French luxury goods firms—are increasingly interested in recruiting students as they face relentless threats from cybersecurity, espionage, and sabotage.

Recently, graduates have been recruited by the French mobile phone operator Orange; the aerospace and defense giant Thales, and LVMH, owner of brands such as Louis Vuitton and Dior,and the champagne brands Dom Perignon and Krug.

First Name

Twenty-eight students have enrolled in this year's class. Six of them are spies. You can tell who they are, since they're the ones who gather during breaks, away from the younger students, and they don't seem too cheerful when I approach them.

Without revealing their exact roles and with their arms crossed, one of them says that the course is considered a stepping stone to move from the office to fieldwork. Another claims that this academic environment gives him new ideas. They sign the day's attendance sheet only with their first name.

One of the youngest students, 21-year-old Alexandre Hubert, says he wanted to better understand the impending economic war between Europe and China. “Viewing intelligence gathering from a James Bond perspective is irrelevant; the job is about analyzing risk and figuring out how to counter it,” she tells me. Another student in the class, Valentine Guillot, also 21, says she was inspired by the popular French spy TV series Le Bureau. “Coming here to discover this world, which I knew nothing about except from the TV series, has been an extraordinary opportunity, and now I’m really looking forward to joining the security services.” Nearly half the students in the class are women. And this is relatively recent, according to one of the professors, Sebastien-Yves Laurent, a specialist in espionage technology. “Women’s interest in intelligence gathering is something new,” he says. “They are interested because they believe it will contribute to creating a better world.”

“And if there is one thing all these young students have in common, it is that they are very patriotic, which is a novelty compared to 20 years ago.”

If you are interested in applying for admission to the course, it is essential to have French nationality, although some cases of dual nationality are accepted.

However, Professor Crettiez states that one must be cautious. “I regularly receive applications from very attractive Israeli and Russian women with impressive CVs. Naturally, I reject them immediately.” In a recent class photo, you can immediately identify the spies: those with their backs to the camera. Although all the students and professional spies I met were slim and athletic, Professor Crettiez is also keen to dispel the myth of James Bond-style adventures. “Few new recruits will end up working in the field,” he says. “Most of the work in French intelligence agencies is done from an office.”

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