By D. D. Guttenplan. PARIS — They come in the autumn, when the grapes lie heavy on the vines. They leave in late spring, after the cherries are off the trees in the Pyrenees and the hops harvested in Alsace. Under French law they are considered “saisonniers,” or seasonal workers. But instead of spending their days picking apples, they toil in the university classrooms of Paris, teaching French language and literature, art history and political science.
The use of adjuncts — part-time faculty who have little possibility of tenure or permanent employment — is increasingly common in U.S. colleges and universities. But European law gives workers more rights, and French workers are among the most protected in Europe — unless, it seems, if they work for an American university. Read more...

By Ananyo Bhattacharya. A number of higher-education unions and the campaign group Let’s Save Research called a strike today demanding withdrawal of a bill, adopted yesterday by the French cabinet, to reform higher education and research. The bill is aimed to remedy flaws in a 2007 law (loi relative aux libertés et responsabilités des universités; LRU), but has been described by the protestors as being more of the same. “As in Quebec, Great Britain and Chile, French universities are being deliberately driven to bankruptcy by laws,” they said in a joint statement.
A group of anonymous academy rectors also denounced the bill in an op-ed published on the website of L’Express magazine, saying that the law represented a “race to the bottom” and would turn universities into “ships adrift at sea”. Read more...

Les inscriptions des étudiants étrangers se font chaque année du 1er décembre au 31 janvier. Pour vous inscrire dans l'enseignement supérieur français, les conditions d'admission sont différentes selon votre nationalité, votre pays de résidence et de la nature des études visées.
S'inscrire directement auprès de l'établissement concerné dans les cas suivants:
    étudiant ayant déjà été inscrit en licence ou en master dans une université française
    inscription en deuxième ou troisième cycle à l'université ou dans tout autre établissement à caractère spécifique
    recrutement par voie de concours
S'inscrire à l'université directement
Les étudiant(e)s étranger(e)s présentent directement une demande d'inscription à l'université de leur choix en passant par le site d'inscription Admission-Postbac:
    titulaires du baccalauréat français, européen, franco-allemand ou international (ou d'un titre admis en dispense par une réglementation nationale);
    candidats ayant la nationalité d'un des pays de l'espace économique européen ou de la confédération suisse;
    venu(e)s en France effectuer des études dans le cadre d'un accord inter-universitaire si ce dernier le précise (dans ce cas il mentionne également les modalités spécifiques d'inscription);
    boursier(e)s du gouvernement français, d'organismes internationaux ou de gouvernements étrangers dont les bourses sont gérées par un organisme français agréé;
    apatrides ou réfugié(e)s politiques titulaires de la carte de l'Office français pour les réfugiés et les apatrides (OFPRA);
    enfants de diplomates en poste en France et y résidant eux même.
Dans le cadre de cette procédure obligatoire, un examen est prévu, organisé par le Centre international d'études pédagogiques (C.I.E.P.), pour évaluer la compréhension écrite et orale de la langue française et pour apprécier l'expression écrite des candidats. Cet examen est payant (63 euros).
Sont dispensés de cet examen:
    les ressortissants des États où le français est langue officielle;
    les étudiants étrangers issus des sections bilingues françaises figurant sur une liste établie conjointement par les ministères de l'éducation nationale et des affaires étrangères;
    les titulaires du diplôme approfondi de langue française (DALF), niveaux C1 et C2 du Cadre européen commun de référence) et les titulaires du DELF (diplôme d'études en langue française) niveau B2;
    les candidats qui ont passé le test organisé par la Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris (C.C.I.P.) et ont obtenu la note de 14/20 à l'épreuve d'expression écrite.
Inscription en université après procédure obligatoire (demande d'admission préalable)
Pour s'inscrire en premier cycle dans une université, une demande d'admission préalable (DAP) est obligatoire pour les étrangers titulaires d'un diplôme étranger de fin d'études secondaires.
Attention ! Il existe deux formulaires de demande d'admission préalable selon le pays où vous résidez:
    si vous vivez dans votre pays, consulter la page "Dossier blanc"
    si vous vivez en France, consulter la page "Dossier vert"
S'inscrire en classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles (C.P.G.E), en section de technicien supérieur (S.T.S.), en Institut Universitaire de Technologie (I.U.T.)
L'inscription en classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles, en section de technicien supérieur, en Institut Universitaire de Technologie est à effectuer sur le site Admission-Postbac.

By Ayesha Banerjee. France wants Indian students. “When former French president Nicolas Sarkozy visted India in 2010, it was felt that the number of Indian students in France should increase from the current 3000 to 6000 by 2013,” says Helene Duchene, director of mobility and attractiveness at the French ministry of foreign and European affairs.
India is important for France because both countries share the same views when it comes to democracy. France supports India’s bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, the countries are collaborating on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project and IIT Rajasthan has been founded in collaboration with France, among many other things,”  Duchene adds.
Fabienne Couty, also from the ministry, says, “The quality of students coming from India is quite high, especially those from the IITs. So far, about 226 MoUs have been signed between schools and universities of the two countries,” she says.
When compared to the US or UK, the most preferred destinations of Indian students, France is relatively cheaper. “Education makes up 40% of the country’s budget – fees for the students is funded by the state, which comes to about ¤16,000  per student,” says Couty. For the country this is an investment for gaining high quality students, she adds. International students also get some financial help for accommodation. Read more...

"France, has been the active participation in global student exchange schemes like ERASMUS and SOCRATES, which have changed the educational outlook and experience of hundreds of thousands of French undergraduate and graduate students."
"Never before have the education systems of so many different European countries been made accessible and interchangeable for the benefit of the individual student."
We live in a moment in time when education at all levels is one of the most important conditions of contemporary life. Across the world, primary education is being reviewed and overhauled and the ongoing work conducted by the OECD provides a valuable insight to the state of international secondary education. Closer to home, the French education system, particularly at the tertiary level, is facing completely new challenges from within and from external forces. Demands for institutions to produce graduates with a wider view of the world able to contribute to a more mobile and internationalised labour market, combined with the effects of the 1998 Bologna Declaration, means that this could be a moment of great change in French higher education.
Since the signing of the Bologna Declaration in 1999, efforts by a range of European agencies have now resulted in the establishment of a "European Higher Education Area" a single geographic space that stretches from Galway to Vladivostock. Opening up such a vast area presents a unique opportunity for students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels to travel more freely and gain a hugely diverse educational experience resulting in a transportable and internationally recognised qualification at the end of their studies' either undergraduate or graduate. Never before have the education systems of so many different European countries been made accessible and interchangeable for the benefit of the individual student.
Central to the changes related to Bologna is the resolution that all signatories should adopt a higher education system based on easily readable and comparable degrees in order to promote employability and the international competitiveness of the European higher education system. In short, the old system of lengthy French bachelors degrees and academic and professional postgraduate qualifications will be replaced by a standardised structure for the duration of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and will be implemented allowing all students to study for a minimum of three years at the undergraduate level and one year at the postgraduate level. Students will benefit from both a consistent structure of programmes across the entire Area and a greater understanding by employers as to the value and content of qualification obtained. As awareness of Bologna grows amongst students, those institutions not offering the new style programmes are likely to lose out to those ' in any European country ' that are.
French institutions have been slow off the mark compared with other European countries. In the Netherlands for instance, Bologna-friendly undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes have been commonplace since 2002. Universities like Tilburg, Leiden and Groningen have a full range of undergraduate programmes of three years duration and will be making one-year masters degrees available next year. Moreover, Bologna has facilitated the introduction of programmes taught in English. Ten out of the 13 institutions in the country currently offer more that half of their postgraduate programmes exclusively in English with six offering close to all of their degrees in English, making the education system second to the UK in Europe for the number of courses taught in English. The effects are clear ' more international students chose The Netherlands as their destination for study in 2005 than ever before.
Simeon Underwood, Academic Registrar at the London School of Economics and Political Science and advisor on Bologna to one of the world's leading universities, is in no doubt as to the impact Bologna will have on both students and institutions throughout Europe, 'an unprecedented number of choices will face the new generation of postgraduate students ' whether to stay in one country for the entire period of their qualification or sample a range of courses and teaching systems throughout Europe. Higher education will become a buyers market ' with all the benefits that brings to the buyer in question. French students will benefit from this structure just as many other students will, but French institutions need to match the pace set by some of her European sisters.'
Many of the changes in contemporary international higher education are undoubtedly driven by two factors; firstly, the drive to internationalise and secondly, the need to commercialise. Many French institutions have for a number of years been ambivalent to at least one of these factors and in some cases, both of them but are now becoming more aware of their respective importance. In a European sense, Bologna comprehensively represents both of these factors. Internationalisation is one of the key buzzwords of university education the world over at the moment and forms a central limb of Bologna. In some cases, say for example in the USA, efforts to internationalise revolve around a complex set of issues such as diplomacy, the image of the country post 9/11 and the need to change university curricula to be more internationally facing. In others, such has been the case in France, has been the active participation in global student exchange schemes like ERASMUS and SOCRATES, which have changed the educational outlook and experience of hundreds of thousands of French undergraduate and graduate students. Commercialisation of higher education, either through the active marketing and 'selling' of institutions and their degree programmes or through the branding and value acquisition of knowledge-related products emerging from universities has been an emerging trend for the last decade and has gathered pace in recent years with the need of many institutions to seek alternative sources of income in the face of declining Government subsidies. French institutions have actively participated in the international market for the recruitment of students either individually or through the efforts of the Government agency, EduFrance with good results. An estimated 150,000 international students are currently enrolled on degree awarding programmes within French universities and colleges and France as a destination for postgraduate studies is becoming popular. A recent survey by QS Research, based on a sample of 1,566 potential postgraduate masters and research candidates, carried out in association with the QS World Grad School Tour found that as many respondents, 27%, indicated they wished to study for a postgraduate qualification in France as wanted to study in Australia, a remarkable result for the French universities.
"The quality of French postgraduate education remains unquestioned."
The quality of French postgraduate education remains unquestioned. But in this era of reform and student-centred learning and choice, Bologna must be seen as an opportunity by all degree awarding universities to improve their educational provision, their quality and their market competitiveness. Fred'riqu' Delhom, from the Reims Management School, an institution that has already begun to embrace Bologna, clearly sees the advantages for French universities and colleges to adopt the European-wide initiative. 'Students are able to study programmes that are recognised internationally much more easily that the traditional French qualifications. This can only be an advantage for the individual student and raise the profile of our institutions overseas as we adopt the system more positively.'

Ce rapport souligne les faiblesses du dispositif actuel en matière de stratégie et de prospective: multiplication d'organismes par domaine de politique, insuffisance de leur mise en réseau avec le Centre d'analyse stratégique (CAS), ne permettant pas une mise en cohérence des différents travaux. Le rapport confirme ainsi l'absence d'un lieu structuré de réflexion transversale, qui serait un instrument au service des pouvoirs publics pour préparer la prise de décision et redonnerait toute leur place à des méthodes de travail privilégiant la concertation avec les partenaires sociaux et les acteurs publics et privés. Le rapport propose de combler ce manque et de créer un « commissariat général à la stratégie et à la prospective » qui aurait un rôle important auprès du Gouvernement.
Accéder au document.

By Guillaume Guguen. Five years after a controversial reform granted France’s public universities greater autonomy over budget, staff, curriculum and funding, professors seem to be anything but happy. France24.com takes a closer look at their complaints.
Although the classroom in which she teaches is brand new, Nathalie Montoya, a professor of sociology at Paris Diderot University, is not happy with her working conditions.
“We have a beautiful facility here, but there’s no heat,” the 35-year-old Montoya said, seated next to a radiator.
The university’s recently opened campus in the southeastern 13th district of the French capital may be spiffy on the outside, but several factors have brought university personnel to the breaking point.
Last month, several professors and researchers penned an op-ed in left-wing daily newspaper Libération, denouncing the deterioration of France’s public universities and enumerating their grievances. Chief among them were poorly equipped classrooms, libraries being shut down and insufficient funds. Read more...

Un étudiant étranger sur trois choisit de rester en France après la fin de ses études, révèle Le Figaro.
La France, qui est actuellement la 4e destination mondiale des étudiants étrangers, séduit également ces derniers pour commencer leur carrière professionnelle.
L’échange international, l’occasion de découvrir la France
L’emploi est la première raison pour laquelle les étudiants étrangers décident de rester en France à la fin de leurs études. Les visas de travail dépassent ainsi les demandes de séjour pour motif familial, d’après les chiffres publiés par le ministère de l’Intérieur. Des chiffres qui ne tiennent cependant pas compte des jeunes qui prennent le risque de rester sur le territoire sans visa.
La percée des étudiants chinois
Toujours très prisée, la France comptait 280 000 étudiants étrangers en 2011, soit 12% de la population étudiante française. Les Marocains conservent la première place des étudiants étrangers les plus représentés, suivis des Chinois - en forte progression -, qui font descendre d'un rang les Algériens. Viennent ensuite les Tunisiens et les Sénégalais.

By D. D. Guttenplan. It may turn out to be a good vintage for French wine, but 2012 has been a terrible year for the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris, the elite institute for political studies known as Sciences Po, which last week had its interim director removed by the French higher education minister, Geneviève Fioraso, who installed another candidate in his place.
In April, the school’s longtime director, Richard Descoings, was found dead in a New York hotel room. Officials ruled in May that he died of natural causes. Under Mr. Descoings’s leadership the school instituted a controversial affirmative action program to recruit students from disadvantaged backgrounds, opened six satellite campuses and turned a feeder school for the French civil service into an international powerhouse that drew 40 percent of its students from outside France. Read more...