Founded in 1982, ENSCI is the only national higher education establishment in France dedicated to design and industrial design with a particularly contemporary vision of the "industry". It is under the authority of the ministries responsible for culture and enterprise.
ENSCI's "industrial design degree" is recognized as level 1 by the State, that is to say the highest level on the gradation of professional degrees.

ENSCI also offers two other programmes: one leads to the degree in textile design awarded by the Atelier national d'art textile (ANAT); the other to the post-master professional certificate (Mastère) in "New Media Design".