Education System
France’s education system is comparatively unusual and a complex one. Generally, in every Country the pinnacle of the education system is provided by the Universities. But that is not the case in France. In France most of the universities do teaching and research with middle-of-the-range universities in other parts of Europe. On the other hand, France’s peak of the education is represented by the country's relatively small and highly selective schools called "Grandes Écoles". These Grandes Écoles are famed for their quality way of teaching and played a vital role in shaping tomorrow’s leaders.
Grandes Écoles are very small in size and top teaching staff.
On the other hand, French Universities lacks funding, though their teaching standards are up to the mark.
Student fees in France
In France, Standard student fees is 181.57 Euros per year for undergraduates, and 249.57 € per year for post graduate Master's courses. Adding to this, few extra charges has to be paid, which are less than 100 €.
Students are allowed for subsidized student restaurants, which are very cheap student residences. Good news is that, students from low-income backgrounds will get grants.
Entry into higher education:
Just like many other countries, France Universities offer courses in arts and social sciences that are open to all, whilst medical and scientific courses are usually only open to students who have passed a scientific baccalaureate.
Whole different ball game
When it comes to University admissions, the baccalaureate always maintains its golden standards; but getting into a "grande Écoles" is a whole different ball game. Entry is available at Masters level in many "grandes Écoles".
France has 82 state universities and 5 Catholic universities.
State universities: Being the reasons of the state playing a heavy role in administration and also because of considerable underfunding, the development of French state universities has been greatly affected from the past five decades. After significant opposition, in 2007 a law was passed on the Autonomy of the Universities. Since then, things started changing. This law gave a greater decisional power to the Presidents of public universities.
Officially, Universities are known by the name of the city in which they are situated: most of these Universities are located in the suburbs. Many Universities take other names, which they use on all their official documents;
Degrees: Universities award three types of degree, in line with the European "Bologna" system. A three year Bachelors called License, a five year postgraduate degree called Masters, and finally, an eight year study called Doctorate.
Private universities: According to an old French law, no private institution has a right to call itself a "university"; but Catholic Universities are not bothered about this.
Catholic universities: Catholic universities offer the same range of degree courses as state universities, and students can freely move between the two systems.
Other private institutions: Along with Government Universities and Catholic Universities, some private Institutes are also there. These tend to call themselves as “schools”. However, “these kinds of schools” should offer the courses only which are recognized by the Ministry. Generally the courses offered here are business degrees and other courses.
Les Grandes Écoles.
These are the pinnacle of the French education system; students get filtered by a competitive examination. The institutes are small and so are the classes. Many of the teaching staff over here is professors in neighboring universities, who do extra teaching per hourly rate.
Another high ranking school is the Ecole Normale d'Administration, the ENA, which trains future managers, top politicians, and senior civil servants.
Also France holds world-class business and management schools such as HEC (Hautes Etudes Commerciales), INSEAD(European Institute of Administration) and Sciences Po, the Institut des Etudes Politiques de Paris, an autonomous state-funded school of higher education.
Academics and Research
France has laid some stringent procedures and processes in the recent years, due to which research has become more structured here. One more interesting thing is laboratories come in all fields, from Autonomy to English literature.
In France, over 3500 different institutions offer higher education studies to over 2 million students.
In recent years the French government has recognized the loophole in its education system and has started the preventive methods to improve things.
Moving towards this step, the government has started providing greater funds for constructing buildings and increasing the staff.
Thus, the higher education in France is also the ‘Cinderella’ of the education system.
France’s academic standards are recognized worldwide. French tutors are part-time researchers and working professionals, and are experts in academic knowledge. They richly offer a new perspective.
French institutions in combination with Business, Industry and Research Institutes and Science Parks, stress on a dynamic learning environment, to ensure that study and research in France reflects the latest trends and meets the needs of present day world. Thus the learning undertaken is professional to the core.
French Universities, Colleges and Academies are next to none and go for State-of-the-art technology, free access to computers, libraries and Wi-Fi on campus. This creates an urge for creativity, analytical and critical thinking. They ensure to push the quality of international education and higher education sectors, and help France to achieve a position of a leading study destination.