I. Basic Information on the Country .................................................................. 3
II. The Higher Education System ....................................................................... 4
1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 4
1-1) Various higher education institutions .......................................................................................... 4
1-2) Degrees and diplomas (diplôme) .................................................................................................. 4
1-3) Integration of LMD system ........................................................................................................... 4
2. History and legislation ......................................................................................... 5
2-1) Historical overview ....................................................................................................................... 5
2-2) Edgar Faure law ............................................................................................................................. 6
2-3) Savary law ..................................................................................................................................... 6
2-4) Recent developments: 2007 to the present –giving much more autonomy to universities– ....... 6
3. French educational system ................................................................................... 8
4. Higher education system ...................................................................................... 8
4-1) Types of institution ...................................................................................................................... 8
4-1-1) Universities ............................................................................................................................. 8
4-1-2) Grandes écoles and other higher education institutes ........................................................... 9
4-1-3) Private institutions of higher education .............................................................................. 10
4-2) Statistics ...................................................................................................................................... 11
5. Enrollment .......................................................................................................... 13
5-1) Admission requirements for universities ................................................................................... 13
5-2) Admission requirements for grandes écoles .............................................................................. 13
5-3) Access to higher education (Admission Post –Bac portal) .......................................................... 13
6. Courses and qualifications ................................................................................. 14
6-1) Courses ....................................................................................................................................... 14
6-1-1) Short programs ..................................................................................................................... 14
6-1-2) Long Programs ...................................................................................................................... 14
6-1-3) Specialized programs ........................................................................................................... 15
6-2) Curriculum .................................................................................................................................. 16
6-2-1) Student Assessment ............................................................................................................. 16
6-2-2) Ongoing debates ................................................................................................................... 17
6-3) Qualifications .............................................................................................................................. 19
6-3-1) Degrees from short programs .............................................................................................. 19
6-3-2) Intermediate degrees ............................................................................................................ 20
6-3-3) Degrees from long programs ................................................................................................ 20
6-4) National qualifications frameworks ........................................................................................... 22
7. Student unions .................................................................................................... 24
8. Tuition fees and financial support for students................................................. 25
8-1) Tuition fees ................................................................................................................................. 25
8-2) Financial support for students ................................................................................................... 25
8-2-1) CampusBourses: grant search engine ................................................................................... 26
9. Internationalization of French higher education ................................................ 27
10. Responsible authorities and higher education related bodies ......................... 28
11. Legislation ......................................................................................................... 30
III. The Quality Assurance System ................................................................... 31
1. Transition of French quality assurance system ................................................. 31
1-1) The National Council for Evaluation of Universities (CNE) ........................................................ 31
1-2) Bologna process .......................................................................................................................... 31
Overview of the Quality Assurance System in Higher Education: France
1-3) 2006 to the present - a new era in Quality Assurance ............................................................... 31
2. Quality assurance system in French higher education ....................................... 32
2-1) Higher education and university approval system .................................................................... 32
2-1-1) Establishment of Public Corporations in Higher Education ................................................. 32
2-1-2) Private institutions of higher education .............................................................................. 32
2-2) Internal quality assurance .......................................................................................................... 32
2-3) External quality assurance .......................................................................................................... 33
2-3-1) Institutional evaluation ........................................................................................................ 34
2-3-2) Research (Research units) evaluation ................................................................................... 36
2-3-3) Academic program and degree (LMD) evaluation ................................................................ 38
2-3-4) Validation for academic staff evaluation procedure ............................................................ 40
3. Internationalization and quality assurance ........................................................ 40
3-1) Joint accreditation for international joint programs ................................................................. 40
3-2) Recognition of qualifications...................................................................................................... 40
IV. The Details of Quality Assurance Organizations ....................................... 42
IV-1. Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education (AERES) ........... 42
1. Overview of the organization ............................................................................. 42
2. Mission and principles ........................................................................................ 43
2-1) Mission ........................................................................................................................................ 43
2-2) Principles .................................................................................................................................... 43
2-3) Organization ............................................................................................................................... 43
3. Activities ............................................................................................................. 44
3-1) Evaluation ................................................................................................................................... 44
3-2) Validation of its evaluation ........................................................................................................ 44
3-3) Evaluation cycle .......................................................................................................................... 45
3-4) Impact on the outcome of the evaluation .................................................................................. 45
4. International Activities ....................................................................................... 46
4-1) Collaborations with other bodies ............................................................................................... 46
4-2) International evaluation ...................................................