III. The Quality Assurance System
1. Transition of French quality assurance system
1-1) The National Council for Evaluation of Universities (CNE)
An external evaluation system was formed in France in the middle of the 1980s. The University
Committee (CNE) was set up in 1984 and played a central role in evaluation. It was an autonomous
administrative entity that reported directly to the President of the Republic and the mission was to
evaluate universities, schools and other institutions in the areas linked to the missions of the higher
education public sector. The AERES (Evaluation Agency for Research and Higher Education) inherited the
mission.
1-2) Bologna process
France is no exception to other European states that saw a drastic change in Higher Education as a result
of the Bologna Declaration (1999). New state regulations were introduced from 2002 (p.4), aimed at
building a degree structure that is common to all higher education institutions. The implementation of
these regulations was phased in step by step and a study of the quality assurance process was put into
operation.
1-3) 2006 to the present - a new era in Quality Assurance
In response to the requirement of quality assurance under the Bologna process, The Act on research (law
n° 2006-450 April 18, 2006) and the Act on the Liberties and Responsibilities of Universities (LRU) was
enacted, which lead to large-scale changes in the QA system in addition to enhancement of university
autonomy and responsibility. At the same time, a new evaluation organization was established replacing
CNE, but also bodies assessing programs in HE and research. This is the Evaluation Agency for Research
and Higher Education (AERES), and its establishment was stipulated in the Program for Research Act of
2006. AERES is in charge of institutional evaluation (universities, high schools and research
organizations), research unit evaluation and bachelor, master, and doctoral program evaluation.
However, when it comes to providing engineering programs for engineering diplomas, Commission for
Engineer Titles (CTI) is in charge of evaluation.