NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

Institutions of higher education take sole responsibility for evaluating a diploma for purposes of further study; the candidate
must submit a validation request application to the institution or institutions offering the course of study he or she wishes to
pursue. The decision to validate a degree or not is made by the president of the university, or the director of the institution
with the input of an academic committee. The candidate is then informed of the final decision.
Holders of foreign degrees and diplomas can also benefit from these measures. The Minister for Higher Education and
Research makes decisions concerning the validation of diplomas in medicine, pharmacy and dentistry only.
The French system allows students to transfer from one university course of study to another. The most common transfers are
from short-term to long-term courses of study:
from the DUT to engineering and business schools and to instituts d’études politiques (IEP);
from general university programmes to technical or specialised
programmes;
from DEUG, licence or maîtrise to engineering schools, business schools, art schools, journalism schools, etc.;
from DEUG to the special training year following the first cycle, which are offered at instituts universitaires de
technologie (IUT);
from technology programmes to research programmes;
from completed écoles programmes to third university cycles or doctoral programmes.
Most engineering schools have made it possible for students to transfer to an engineering programme after they have obtained
a DEUG, a DUT or a BTS.
Admission to an institut universitaire professionnalisé (IUP) is possible at all levels, BAC plus one year, BAC plus two years,
BAC plus three years, according to specific procedures determined by the universities.