How do French universities' approach to international outreach contrast with that of their UK counterparts? Tim Gore, chief executive officer of the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP), explains the differences, ahead of a ULIP seminar, supported by the British Council, on Friday, 20 February 2015.
How is French higher education different from the UK system?
France has a very significant international higher education system. France is the third most attractive study destination for overseas students after the US and UK. It comes sixth in volume of global scientific production, and has produced 57 Nobel Prize winners.
However, French higher education is organised very differently from the UK and US systems. The most obvious difference is what's known as ‘double duality’. First, there is a divide between universities and publicly funded research organisations. Most research is conducted in specialised research institutions, not within universities. And second, the French higher education sector is split between universities and subject-specific schools or 'grandes écoles', part of Napoleon I's legacy of creating a number of grandes écoles to train France's top administrators.
France's 'grandes écoles' have historically attracted the top students
The range and number of grandes écoles has increased vastly since the days of the Napoleonic Empire, but the model of the small, elite school remains a significant factor in the landscape. They draw a disproportionate amount of resources and also affect the way French students make choices about their future, even during their secondary school education, when they start aiming for admission to prépas, an intensive two years of cramming classes, to prepare for the competitive exams for these schools.
French universities haven't traditionally selected students by ability
Compared to the elite grandes écoles, France's universities are thus often perceived as ‘second-choice’. This effect is reinforced by the fact that access to a university education is a ‘right’ for all those who have passed a baccalauréat, so traditionally there has been no selection for entry into university programmes. This is starting to change, with more and more modes of selection creating competition for places. But a large proportion of undergraduate education remains unselective and that creates some very significant differences in student expectation and experience compared with the UK higher education sector.
How does attending a lecture at a French university differ from the same experience in the UK?
Because there is no selection on entry for the majority of universities, first-year courses tend to be enormously crowded. There is a reasonable chance that you could be sitting in a lecture theatre with several hundred other students. Some first-year courses will not be able to accommodate all the students, so there may be competition for seats.
As French universities are publicly funded institutions with minimal fee income on home or overseas students, there are pluses and minuses for students. Universities' resources vary enormously. Many of them were expanded in the sixties and seventies, and are now dealing with the removal of asbestos and large renovation projects. Lack of financial resources could be reflected in poor acoustics, so hearing a lecture at the back of a hall might be a challenge. On the other hand, you would be sitting alongside students who are not gradually acquiring the levels of debt that now characterise the UK higher education sector.
Compared with a typical UK university course, you would also probably have far more hours of classes in a week in France (the norm is 15 hours, and some courses, humanities included, will be as high as 30), and some of those will be in a small-group format.
Are there many international students at French universities? Do French students tend to study abroad at all?
There is a much higher take-up of study abroad opportunities by French students than their UK equivalents. Many courses have obligatory periods of study abroad. Around 80,000 French students are studying abroad at any point in time, while nearly 300,000 foreign students are studying in France. Their origins are hugely varied, though they do reflect the contours of the French-speaking world.
Although many international students in France speak French, it may not be their first language
More than 40 per cent of France’s incoming overseas students are from Africa, including French-speaking Morocco and Algeria. Language and historical relationships are reflected in the flow of international students in both the Francophone and Anglophone worlds: for example, India has always had strong educational ties with the UK.
However, the way that people use these languages is complex. In many areas of the world, French or English may be a third language. Typically, rural populations learn their own local language first, and then go on to learn a regional language such as Hindi in India, before they come into contact with English, French or other European-origin languages. Also, students may choose languages that they perceive as advantageous for their economic and social future rather than those they are familiar with.
Do French and English-speaking universities face the same challenges in becoming more international?
I think some of the challenges are similar and some very different. In terms of similarities, both need to respond to the huge demographic and economic changes fuelling greater demand for higher education across Asia, and the corresponding rise of local responses to that demand. All universities that want to operate internationally also need to deal with students' and governments' rapidly changing expectations. And of course it is worth mentioning the increasing value of students’ international experience to potential employers.
At the same time, the traditional international audience for French universities is in the French-speaking world, and largely concentrated in Africa. In order to engage with China, India and other parts of Asia, France has had to adapt its approach, and this has included an increase in English language teaching in French institutions. By contrast, Anglophone universities have had less access to non-English speaking parts of the world, and struggle to operate in other languages.
Can institutions work together despite being either Francophone or Anglophone? Or will language and differences in teaching style always pose too big of a problem?
There are already many bridges between these worlds – as the University of London Institute in Paris, we are one of them. The field of natural sciences is less linguistically bound than some other disciplines, making it easier for French and British universities to work together. And some institutions, such as Sciences Po in Paris, have always been international in outlook.
You can still register for the British Council seminar 'Worlds apart? International higher education in the Anglophone and Francophone worlds', which takes place in Paris on Friday, 20 February 2015.