National Report regarding the Bologna Process implementation 2009-2012 - France

Download National Report regarding the Bologna Process implementation 2009-2012 - France.
How do these projections affect higher education policy planning?
In France, works based on statistical forecasts of student numbers in higher education are regularly undertaken and are tools for the system monitoring, according to possible scenarios outlined for the future and their impact over the budget in particular. The latest information note published by the Ministry for higher education and research (MHER) on this issue focuses on student numbers forecasted for academic falls, over the period 2010-2019. From now till the 2019 horizon, two scenarios – one based on trends; another possible one - can therefore be found: Web link for the document: Note d’information MESR n°10.07 d’Octobre 2010.
What is the number of institutions in the categories identified?
In France, the number of higher education institutions, according to identified categories, is as follows: - universities: 83 - IUT (part of universities): 115; - Grands établissements: 11; - sections de techniciens supérieurs (STS) (ie: short cycles post-secondary classes providing BTS programmes ): 1951; - classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE): 429 ; - engineering schools: 204 (including 58 private schools); - business, management and accountants’ schools): 212 ; - Arts and Culture schools: 237; - Paramedical schools outside universities: 409; - Schools for jobs in social affairs: 202; - Law and administration schools: 52; - Journalismschools and literature schools: 27; - Other schools: écoles normales supérieures, 6; schools of architecture, 22; Vet schools, 4.
Please provide any additional relevant comments for consideration regarding general data on your country's higher education system.
In France, the main statistical feedbacks about the higher education systemare made possible by the MHER, in particular on the basis of the SISE student information monitoring system (SISE standing for: “système d’information sur le suivi des étudiants ») involving all universities and most of HEIs within the remit of the MHER, and thanks to additional surveys carried out for post-secondary education: STS short cycles programmes and CPGE preparatory classes for Grandes Ecoles.
Additional surveys may be carried out fromtime to time by the MEHR statistical units or the CEREQ (“Centre d’études et de recherches sur les qualifications) organisation. + additional comments for Q3 : *Higher education institutions can be either academically or professionally oriented: Universities provide programmes which are either academically-oriented or research-oriented; on the other hand, professionally-oriented programmes (such as professionally-oriented “Licence”’s or “Master”’s degrees areprovided as well.
The purpose sought for in priority for these professionally-oriented degrees is immediate integration into the labour market, as far as one job or a set of well-defined jobs are concerned. However, academically-oriented degrees cannot overlook student employability. Therefore, the new academically-oriented Licence, on top of subject-specific competences, must enable students to get generic and pre-professional competences and skills that can be re-invested in “real life”, into a socio-economic environment. Universities also provide their students with short-cycle programmes leading to DUT (“diplômes universitaires de technologie ») degrees, within IUTs (“Instituts universitaires de technologie”), which are part of universities. As far as engineering or business schools are concerned, they can be considered professionally-oriented higher education institutions.
*Higher education institutions are either public or private : Universities are public institutions and their names as Universities is legally protected on the basis of a regulation list about all universities in France, which is regularly updated and published. Engineering schools can either be public or private, whereas business schools are private institutions.
**Other: The category set for « établissement privé reconnu par l’Etat» deals with private institutions which, on the basis of an expertise to be carried out, are recognized as institutions bringing a cooperation which is useful to the public service of higher education, and therefore, which can be allowed to get among their own students those who hold a grant allocated by the State (MHER ministry). As far as degree recognition is concerned, another category based on the « reconnaissance du diplôme par l’Etat » or the mention of a “diplôme visé par l’Etat” only matter.
4.3.1. Does your country provide specific support measures on the national level?
The concept of “competences-based references” (ie : “référentiels de compétences”) or learning outcomes (LO), which also takes on board on an equal footing competences and skills on top of theoretical knowledge only, is the cornerstone of the National professional qualifications register – ie : the « Répertoire national des certifications professionnelles » (RNCP) -, where mentioning the LO is required for any registered degree. In the framework of the multiannual Plan for Success in Licence programmes », for which purpose a financial envelope accounting for an overall amount of 730 million euros for a 5-year period (2008-2012) is set, the focus is made on drawing up “competences-based references” in order to make degree-connected competences more readable and understandable. Therefore, for the renovation of Licence programmes, a press conference made by the Minister for higher education and research shed a light upon, in connection to the deepening further of reforms stirred up by the Bologna Process (especially the so-called LMD reform), competences-based references should be made for the main special subject areas developed by Licence programmes. In connection to the RNCP national qualifications register, and the LO concept which is related to it while being one of the key Bologna process principles for reorganizing higher education, since 2008, local meetings made especially for university audiences have been organized in regions, by the MHER (DG for higher education and employability), the French Rectors’Conference (CPU) and the national professional qualification Commission (CNCP), which is meant to examine any application about a degree registration into the RNCP register Furthermore, after co-organizing the Conference, in Lyon in 2008, focused on the issue of “the Bologna Process : a student-centered learning”, the national team of Bologna experts regularly deals with the issue of the LO the ECTS allocation and the Diploma supplement award must be connected to. On this issue, over the 2009-2011 period, several regional workshops organized by the French Bologna experts’team have been set up in universities. The competences-based approach is the core point where the key objectives a university is seeking for itself do converge. Currently, while making the necessary connection between employability (with more readable degrees), the implementation of the VAE (ie : recognition of prior learning including professional experiences), many teams in Universities are busy working on a new reorganization of competences-based degrees for the whole set of their qualifications to be awarded, especially on the basis of projects involving several institutions. For some, like the Jean Monnet University of Saint-Etienne, these works made for the whole set of Licence’s degrees, including the fields of literature, humanities and social sciences, are now over (>> refer to the following Website : http://portail.univ-st-etienne.fr, rubrique Formations, Guide des compétences). Some projects, which might have been granted a political and financial back-up by the ministry for higher education and research, are focused on setting up new information technology tools meant to make it easier, for students on the one hand, to analyze and describe better their own competences gained when studying (and may be with professional activities as well), and for teachers on the other hand, to set up a new competences-based organization for HE programmes and degrees to be awarded. Download National Report regarding the Bologna Process implementation 2009-2012 - France.