Undergraduate Studies France paris university french colleges

France is fast gaining popularity as the hottest education sector too. It’s estimated that more than 150,000 international students study at institutes in France every year. Education in France can be affordable as it is subsidised by the State. Undergraduate education in France is unsurpassed in quality, depth and the last few decades have seen huge changes in the number of pupils and students in the French education system.

A striking trait of higher education in France, compared to other countries such as the United States, is the small size and multiplicity of establishments, each specialised in a more or less broad spectrum of disciplines. A middle-sized French city, such as Grenoble or Nancy, may have two or three universities (for instance: science/humanities), and also a number of engineering and other specialised higher education establishments. For instance, in Paris and suburbs, there are 13 universities, most of which are specialised on one area or the other, and a large number of smaller institutions.

It is not uncommon for graduate teaching programmes to be operated in a common by several institutions, allowing the institutions to present a large variety of courses.

In engineering schools such asÉcole polytechnique, it is not uncommon that a large share of the teaching staff is not made up of permanent professors, but of part-time professors hired to do teaching only. These part-time professors are generally hired from neighbouring universities, research institutes, or industry. Being able to acquire academicians who have worked in their field of expertise, they are able to offer students with a finer insight about the subject matter in question.

Another originality of the French higher education system is that a large share of the scientific research is not done by universities, but by research establishments such as CNRS or INSERM. In many cases, the research units of those establishments are installed inside universities (or other higher education establishments), and jointly operated by the research establishment and the university. It is also fairly common that research staff teaches some graduate classes, for instance. However, this research staff will not be counted as part of the normal academic staff of the university. Having a dedicated team to perform intensive research enhances the level of the research which is evident in the valuable results that are derived from the same.

Grandesécoles& classes préparatoires (CPGE)
The grandesécoles of France are higher education establishments outside the mainstream framework of the public universities. They are generally focused on a single subject area, such as engineering, have a moderate size, and are often quite selective in their admission of students. They are widely regarded as prestigious, and traditionally have produced most of France's managing directors and executives.

The classes préparatoires aux grandesécoles (CPGE) is a post-secondary education system with the main goal being training students for enrollment in a grandeécole or an engineering school. Admission to the CPGE is very competitive and is usually based on performance during the last year of high school, called Terminale. Each CPGE receives the files of hundreds of applicants worldwide every year in April-May. A few CPGE programmes, mainly the 10 percents private CPGE's also have an interview process or look at a student's involvement in the community, although the latter has much less importance than in the United States. CPGE programmes have duration of two to three years and are located within the college.

Although there are Economics or Literature focused CPGE's, the most prestigious and selective CPGE's are certainly the scientific ones, called either MP"Mathematics& Physics" or PC"Physics& Chemistry". First year CPGE students are called the 'math-sups' (sup for"supérieur" upper, in French), and second years 'math-spes' (spes standing for specialists, or specialty). Both the first& second year programmes include as far as 16 hours of mathematics teaching per week, a good 10 hours of Physics, plus 2 hours of Philosophy, 2 hours of English and 3 hours of minor options: either SI: Engineering science or Informatic programmation using the PASCAL or CAML languages.

The amount of work required of the students is outstandingly high, considering that to the previously mentioned programme, several hours of exams are added every week, plus the famous 'colles' or 'khôlles'. The so called 'colles' are very specific of French academic education in CPGE's. They consist in oral examinations twice a week, when the CPGE student is facing a professor alone in a room and has to answer the maximum of questions in the hour, the teacher regularly rising the level of the questions to make sure that the students know their lesson perfectly.

There's an extremely vast range of vocabulary that CPGE students use, it is so large that recreates in a way a whole new language that is largely used by the students. Over 20,000 senior executives for the industrial and business community of France hold degrees from‘Grandes Ecoles’. Over 60 per cent of the managing directors and chief executives of France’s 100 largest firms are graduates of the‘Grandes Ecoles’ (GE). Broad courses of study enable them to assume top positions and offer them different career possibilities.

French educational institutes are distinguished by their:
Great autonomy - every year they test and implement numerous innovations, concerning admission, educational methods, internships, research and international relations
Autonomous educational projects
Human scale (300 to 4000 students)
Rigorous selection
Long-track programmes (5 years)
Both internal and external faculty members
Flexible educational programmes
Strong links with industry and business, enabling them to constantly adapt their programmes and to meet its needs
International activities: numerous networks, agreements, double .