Part 1
Higher Education to Support a Knowledge-Based Society Full of Creative Vitality - New Developments in Higher Education Reform
Chapter 4
Higher Education Reform in Other Countries
Section 4
France
In France, students continue on to higher education after a 12-year primary and secondary education that begins at age six. Institutions of higher education include universities that accept baccalaureates (students qualified to advance to higher education) without entry selection, Grandes Ecoles (grand colleges of technology) and short-term vocational education institutions. All universities are national schools and account for roughly 60 percent of higher education students in France.
Currently, against a backdrop of intensifying international economic competition, integration of the EU and the mobility of labor, reform aimed at strengthening the international competitiveness of institutions of higher education is being advanced. This reform is focused on improving the quality of education at universities, where students are concentrated. As a means for reform to this end, more emphasis is being placed on the expansion of universities' discretionary powers and accountability of individual universities.
