École Polytechnique is a higher education establishment running under the supervision of the French ministry of Defence, through the General Directorate for Armament (administratively speaking, it is a national public establishment of an administrative character). It has a double status, being both an engineering school that formed civilian engineers and scientists, but also officers for the three French armies. These two components being part of the same project of providing French state with a scientific and technical elite. These two components, formation of civil servants and officers, have weakened since 1950—nowadays only 10–20 % of the school students take place in the ranks of the administration or the army (whereas 20 % go into research and the rest in engineering or management jobs).