Today it is a self-governing school of the Ministry for National Education, authorised by the Engineering Diploma Commission (CTI), a member of the Conference of Grandes Ecoles (CGE) and the Conference of Directors of French Engineering Schools. It is attached to the University of Limoges.

The ENSCI comes from a long tradition of teaching and research in the science of mineral materials. Founded in 1893 and initially located in Sevres, the first vocation of the school was to train decorators and artists capable of raising the level of ceramic art in France. Over the decades, it has approached the corporate world, and in 1955, adopted its present name. The year 1979 marks an important milestone in the life of the School, when it settled in Limoges, on the site of La Borie. It is also from this period that the research activities developed around technical ceramics. A study by the Ministry for Industry, in 2006, mentions the site of Limoges as having a high level of training and concentrating 30% of French research in the field of ceramics. These elements were determining in the labelling of a competitiveness cluster in ceramics at Limoges of which ENSCI and its two research laboratories (SPCTS and GEMH) are founder members.

Thus, the ENSCI has never ceased developing to remain a benchmark for its industrial partners. It is the only school in its speciality in France and the largest in Europe.