Index
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