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France and the changing face of European postgraduate education
"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."
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.�
