French lessons for UK higher education

By Louisiane Ferlier. Despite its flaws, French higher education teaches a thing or two about social and political cohesion, says Louisiane Ferlier. 
In their 2004 publication, Universality or Specialisation?, Christian Allies and Michel Troquet summed up the dilemma faced by the French higher education
system. For France, the existence of an "international education market dominated by the English speaking world" has made adapting to competition particularly difficult. Although Allies and Troquet adequately highlighted the complicated consequences of this choix cornélien, or predicament, almost 10 years later no clear strategy has been adopted. Neither the French ministry of higher education, its academic institutions, nor the academic community itself (that elusive mystical unicorn of a beast) have opted for universality or officially endorsed the specialisation that is evidently taking place. More...