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The Reform of French Higher Education, or the Ox and the Toad: A Fabulous Tale
Author(s) -
Neave Guy
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
higher education quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.976
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1468-2273
pISSN - 0951-5224
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2273.1988.tb01829.x
Subject(s) - technocracy , institution , higher education , politics , political science , field (mathematics) , right wing , sociology , public administration , political economy , law , mathematics , pure mathematics
Over the past four years, France has been engaged in a massive reform of its higher education system, reshaping the structure and content of studies from undergraduate through to research degrees. It is commonly acknowledged, by Right as much by the Left, that France is not educating enough students at higher education level and that, if intentions are acts, then by the turn of the century, the size of the intake should rise by half again to around 2 million enrolments. This consensus, however, is fragile and limited. Whether it can hold together depends as much on the way complementary refines in the field of management and participation structures are carried out as upon the attitudes of deeply vested interests inside the university. In essence success of the technocratic consensus for growth remains hostage to the profound political divisions that are to be found inside that institution.