Chapter VIII HIGHER EDUCATION IN FRANCE IN N 1950, 2 percent of the youth of France of university age succeeded in securing the first university degree (licence) or an equivalent diploma; by 1960, the figure had increased to 3.3 percent. It is predicted that by 1970, 7.2 percent of the eligible age group annually will receive a university degree, or an equivalent diploma.1 Higher education in France is offered chiefly in the 16 public universities, which are supported and supervised by the national government. A relatively small number of students receive their higher education in small specialized schools, called grandes écoles, often attached to departments of the government, which train executives and specialists primarily for those departments. In addition, a very small portion of higher education enrollment is found in private institutions, including those affiliated with religious groups. Enrollments in higher education, public and private, for the academic year 1961-62, equalled 268,500, of which 31,500 were in the national grandes écoles and 11,000 in private grandes écoles and university faculties. Most of the 16 public universities have the traditional faculties (similar to colleges within a university in the United States) of law, medicine, humanities (letters), and sciences. One does not get a true picture, however, of the vast array of courses and programs of study available, including many in applied fields, unless account is taken of the numerous institutes attached to the universities. These institutes sponsor both research and course work in specialized and applied fields for which the traditional faculties have not provided. The majority of the students take their work in the universities, and many enrolled in the grandes écoles, through a cooperative arrangement, take much of their course work in a faculty of a university. Most French universities date back to the Renaissance. Two trace their origins to the 13th century; six were established in the 1400's and three more in the 1500's. The last to be established was the University of Lyon, in 1888. 1 L'Education Nationale, 15 février, 1962. p. 12. 156 The French universities from the 15th century on, however, did not thrive and sank into mediocrity. During the period immediately preceding the French Revolution the universities had decayed to the point that much of the intellectual progress of the country was developing outside of, and at times even in opposition to, the universities. Because of this, and for other reasons of a political nature, the universities were suppressed during the Revolution. During the Revolution two institutions were established which have grown into famous grandes écoles, namely the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Normale Supérieure. Napoleon reorganized higher education by a decree of May 1, 1808. The various university faculties were restored but all were placed under direct control of the national government; even student fees were paid directly to the national government. The various faculties (law, humanities, medicine, etc.) in a given geographic area often did not work closely together and did not think of themselves as constituting a university. The French universities were reconstituted by a law of July 10, 1896, which grouped together the faculties in a given geographic area to constitute the University of Nancy, the University of Bordeaux, and so on. Although operating under the Ministry of National Education, the universities by the law of 1896 were given a certain amount of autonomy, including the right to handle their own finances. The newly created university councils had disciplinary powers over students and teachers. Professors were appointed by the Ministry of National Education, but on the recommendation of committees and councils of the university. Professors' salaries were paid by the national government. Each university was authorized to receive gifts and grants, and student fees were paid directly to the university. With this new autonomy it was possible to propose and finance new courses and programs of study and to expand the scope of the universities. French higher education had been slow to respond to changes brought about by such forces as the industrial revolution. The law of 1896 was intended to revitalize the cultural life of France, particularly in the provinces through the 15 provincial universities. It was hoped that each university would reflect and encourage the cultural interests of its region, and to some extent this is true today. The course work centered around the clock-making industry, offered at the p. 197. 2 Thabault, Roger. "Professional Studies in the University and in Special Professional Schools-France." Yearbook of Education, 1959. New York: World Book Co., 1959. Kandel, I. L., editor. "The Educational System of France." Educational Yearbook 1934. New York: Bureau of Publications of Teachers College, Columbia University, 1934. p. 39. University of Besançon, is frequently cited as an example. Nevertheless the provincial universities have not been able to operate on a par with the University of Paris, and a decentralization drive is under way again as the nation seeks to avoid concentrating most of its intellectual resources in the Paris area. Greater flexibility was given to French higher education by a decree of 1920 which authorized the creation of institutes alongside the traditional faculties. By 1961 there were over 150 of these institutes connected with the 16 universities. Each institute offers work in a specific field, such as physical education, sociology, engi neering, economics and education. Each is headed by a professor from one of the faculties of the university. He represents the institute on the council of the faculty or on one of the university councils. Some members of the institute devote full time to their work while others may teach part time in one of the faculties of the university. The connection between an institute and the university may be a very tenuous one, particularly for fields of study which are new or are not fully accepted by traditionalists within the university. As a result, the institutes have been free to offer all kinds of courses and even to offer many of the same courses available in the regular faculties of the university. Thus, some phase of economics may be offered by several different institutes within the same university; moreover, more than one faculty of a university may be offering work in the same field. Along with this system goes a vast array of small libraries and laboratories often serving roughly the same area of knowledge. The reform plan of 1946 (Langevin Plan) proposed better coordination of institutes and faculties in French higher education, but the plan was not adopted. In addition to the 16 cities which have universities, several other cities have public facilities offering one or more years of higher education, and the trend is to increase the number of cities with such facilities. For example, in the late 1950's certain cities were authorized to offer the first year of higher education in science or in the humanities; such courses are now available in 15 different cities of France. The 1-year programs in science were the first to be offered because of the shortage of university facilities in science. All of the 1-year programs are now seen as a means of meeting the problem of rising enrollments and as a device to effect greater decentralization and democratization in higher education. The first 3 years of the program in pharmacy can be taken at a national preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy at Amiens and at Rouen. Similarly, the entire program in pharmacy and in medicine is offered at Limoges, at Tours, and at Rouen. Part or all of the course work for a degree in law is available at law institutes or schools of law at Pau, Nice, Rouen, Le Mans, Tours, Limoges, and Nantes. Autonomy of the University Control over all these facilities of higher education, whether it be an institute, a university, or a course offered in connection with a university degree program, is held rather firmly by the national government through the Ministry of National Education. Official publications stress the autonomy of higher education in France, and there is not the close government supervision which characterizes lower levels of French education. An English observer of French higher education reports that the weight of the Ministry of National Education is felt, though in talking to French professors he found little serious disapproval of the way the Ministry handled higher education. They tended to tell him about the traditional liberty of the universities, frequently giving the example of the freedom allowed to choose a textbook to go with the prescribed syllabus.* A recent report on freedom in French higher education asserts that the government is driven by necessity, because of its concern to meet the country's need for trained personnel, to organize and regulate examinations and courses of study and "to meddle in the affairs of the university." The report further notes that government intervention is encouraged by the fact that the French universities depend on the national government for most of their money (professors' salaries are paid by the national government) and the government is not inclined to give money without adequate control. Thus, for example, university budgets are submitted in advance to the national government. Figures for 1954 indicate that of the 17,861 million francs spent on public higher education, only 1,576 million, or approximately 9 percent, was raised by the universities. While stressing that the Ministry of National Education does not act without prior consultation with the interested faculty or group within the university, a new official publication says that the national government is of necessity becoming more active as higher education expands; increasingly the national government is having to play the role of arbiter in reconciling higher education programs with priorities for the nation determined at the national level. Jones, P. Mansell. "The National System of Education in France." Quarterly, May 1953. p. 279. Bulletin of the Committee on Science and Freedom. Universities Science and Freedom, No. 19, Yearbook of Education, 1956. Encyclopédie Pratique de l'Education en France. Paris: 1960. p. 348. The Ministry of National Education also appoints the professors to the universities, but it handles these and similar matters, such as promotions of university teachers, largely through two consultative committees which are composed of professors elected by their university and other individuals selected by the Ministry of National Education. The first of these two committees, the Council on Higher Education (Conseil de l'Enseignement Supérieur), has 35 members selected by the teaching staff of the universities, 14 appointed by the Minister of National Education, and 4 members ex officio. The second committee, the Committee for Consultation of the Universities (Comité Consultatif des Universités), has three-fourths of its members elected by the staffs of the universities and one-fourth appointed by the Minister of National Education. The degree of centralization is indicated by the fact that the Committee for Consultation of the Universities meets in Paris and draws up a list of nominations for the different posts in all the universities of France. Formal appointment to a university post is made by the Minister of National Education. The head of a university, called the rector, is appointed by the Minister of National Education. The rector is assisted by two university councils; the first of these, the faculty council, is made up only of the professors, and it deals with various administrative matters, including staff problems. The second council, the assembly of the faculty, includes all the regular teaching staff and deals with pedagogical matters, such as revision of curriculums. The specialized schools of higher education, grandes écoles, are under the control of the various government agencies for which they prepare personnel. The system is so tightly knit that there is considerable criticism of inbreeding, and it is claimed that largely because of the priority accorded to persons trained in the grandes écoles graduates of universities often have difficulty in securing top level jobs in government. While the grandes écoles offer a higher education rather specifically oriented toward preparation for work, their graduates are said to dominate intellectual life in France. In considerable measure they do so by controlling appointments to key jobs in the national government," an important consideration in a country dedicated to strong central control. Enrollments Enrollments in the grandes écoles are small relative to total enrollments in higher education. Only 16,500 enrolled in the grandes écoles for the school year 1956-57 compared to 165,200 in the public uni Park, Julian. "Education." The Culture of France in Our Time. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1954. p. 285. |