NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

I. The higher education system
General characteristics
The law adopted in 1968 governing higher education, referred to as the Edgar Faure law, marked an important step in the
modernisation and democratisation of higher education in France. It granted private status and administrative, financial and
pedagogical autonomy to the various educational establishments. The facultés gave way to administrative and pedagogical
entities called unités d’enseignement et de recherche (programme and research units) allowing for a pluridisciplinary
approach to education.
The law of 1984, referred to as the Savary law, defined the parameters for a civil service responsible for higher education,
thus grouping together all of the post-secondary education programmes formerly under the direction of different ministerial
departments. Its areas of responsibility are as follows:
initial and adult education;
scientific and technological research as well as the promotion of ensuing results;
the diffusion of scientific and technical knowledge and information;
international cooperation initiatives.
A Comité national d’évaluation (CNE) for higher education was also
created by the law of 26 January 1984. It constitutes an independent administrative authority which sets forth its own working
agenda and
is granted financial autonomy.
The Comité national d’évaluation examines and evaluates all of the activities of the universities, schools and other educational
institutions under the authority of the ministère de l’éducation nationale, de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche. It
can also carry out the evaluation of institutions under the authority of other ministries.
Its activity focuses on the educational institutions, not on people. The committee members in charge of an evaluation mission
may designate outside experts to help them. The inspection focuses on the quality of research and teaching, lecturer training,
adult education, management of personnel and services, the living environment, accommodation and the continued orientation
of the students, local integration and national and international influences. The committee has established for this evaluation a
list of indicateurs de fonctionnement (operational indicators). The final report, addressed to the ministère de l’éducation
nationale, de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche, is approved by the committee during a plenary meeting; the
president or director of the institution evaluated writes up a response published at the end of the report. These documents are
then made public.
Each year, the Comité national d’évaluation addresses to the president of the Republic a report on its activities and on the
state of affairs
concerning higher education and research. The 1996 report makes
recommendations on the new universities opened in 1991.
Development scheme for higher education
Adopted in May 1991, the improvement and development scheme
for higher education, also called Université 2000 (University 2000), addresses five major objectives:
to accommodate more students (at least 300 000 by 1995) and to accommodate them better;
to adapt institutions of higher education to the needs of the econ-omy, especially by developing the vocationally oriented
education programmes at all levels and in all of the higher education structures. This mainly involves diversifying and
developing the departments of the instituts universitaires de technologie (university institutes of
technology — IUTs) and doubling the number of engineers trained at schools and universities in the years to come;