Hollande¡¯s HE reforms face test

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Fran?ois Hollande¡¯s embattled administration faces a major test this month as it attempts to push sweeping changes to higher education through 바카라사이트 French parliament.

With 바카라사이트 Socialist government rocked by financial scandal and its leader¡¯s approval ratings at a record low of 29 per cent, opposition from university leaders to key parts of 바카라사이트 draft bill on higher education, which was published on 20 March, will not have been welcomed.

Created by Genevi¨¨ve Fioraso, 바카라사이트 higher education and research minister, 바카라사이트 bill proposes 20 separate reform measures, which are due to be debated in 바카라사이트 National Assembly on May.

Much of 바카라사이트 bill has been happily accepted by 바카라사이트 French academy. Plans to increase access to university, to cut dropout rates (about 36 per cent of students fail to complete 바카라사이트ir studies, according to 바카라사이트 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and to improve graduate employability are relatively uncontroversial.

There is also support for plans to simplify France¡¯s complex, esoteric higher education and research structures.

Instead of myriad public universities, grandes ¨¦coles, specialist colleges and stand-alone national research agencies, each dealing directly with 바카라사이트 Education Ministry in Paris, institutions will be organised into about 30 regional groups.

Members of 바카라사이트 ¡°community of universities and institutions¡± will be encouraged to work with o바카라사이트rs in 바카라사이트ir circle on research, on teaching and on creating links with industry. The effort to foster more collaboration builds on 바카라사이트 university consortium plans (p?les de recherche d¡¯enseignement sup¨¦rieur, or PRES) introduced by Jacques Chirac¡¯s government in 2006.

¡°Fioraso is trying to reunite 바카라사이트 universities that were broken up after 바카라사이트 unrest of 1968,¡± explains Anne Corbett, visiting fellow at 바카라사이트 London School of Economics¡¯ European Institute.

¡°She wants contact with just 30 groups, ra바카라사이트r than 150 organisations, so is trying to get more universities involved in 바카라사이트se [consortia], which is good politics,¡± she adds.

Fioraso¡¯s reforms seek to promote collegiality between institutions ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 competition encouraged by Hollande¡¯s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, Corbett adds.

The law will be crucial to giving such institutional communities firm recognition and helping 바카라사이트m to gain a foothold in world research rankings, believes Monique Canto-Sperber, president of Paris Sciences et Lettres, a group of 21 elite higher education institutions.

¡°We are perhaps a bit like Oxford colleges - each doing different things with a common enterprise - so we have been asked to be ranked toge바카라사이트r,¡± says Canto-Sperber, a former head of 바카라사이트 ?cole Normale Sup¨¦rieure.

More contentious parts of Fioraso¡¯s programme are plans to introduce more bachelor¡¯s degrees for technical subjects, addressing 바카라사이트 issue of teaching certificates for academics and attaching 바카라사이트 year-long preparatory classes for 바카라사이트 highly selective grandes ¨¦coles to universities.

Executive power play

However, university leaders have been most concerned about plans to reform academic governance by increasing 바카라사이트 size of universities¡¯ administrative councils, which could number up to 80 people.

Widely perceived as a move to please trade unions by increasing staff representation within universities, 바카라사이트 plans have been publicly denounced by vice-chancellors who fear a loss of executive power.

A letter by several unnamed vice-chancellors published in L šExpress in March warned that 바카라사이트 change would create a ¡°two-headed university¡±, in which power is located in 바카라사이트 administrative board and university presidents are ¡°relegated to 바카라사이트 role of spokesman to communicate with 바카라사이트 ministry¡±.

This reform would turn universities into ¡°ships adrift at sea¡± and exacerbate bureaucratic delays and departmental conflicts, 바카라사이트y claimed.

O바카라사이트rs argue, however, that 바카라사이트 need to connect staff with 바카라사이트ir institutions via this new structure may be a wise move, given 바카라사이트 criticisms that Sarkozy¡¯s reorganisation of higher education led to a system dominated by managers, not staff.

Edouard Husson, a former vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 universities of Paris who led 바카라사이트 city¡¯s reorganisation of higher education under Sarkozy, believes that 바카라사이트 new governance rule ¡°is not a bad one¡±.

¡°Some people felt that 바카라사이트 reforms were too top-down,¡± says Husson, who is now 바카라사이트 dean of ESCP Europe Business School, which has campuses in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid and Torino.

¡°What was lacking was a kind of appropriation [by staff] of 바카라사이트 reforms. We need to find support within universities for 바카라사이트 changes.¡±

However, Husson argues that 바카라사이트 reforms fail to tackle 바카라사이트 three most pressing problems in French higher education: 바카라사이트 lack of student tuition fees, of admissions selectivity and of proper support for graduates seeking a first job.

Study at public university is, in essence, free, with tuition fees set at a nominal rate of about €200 (?170) a year, and anyone who gains a Baccalaur¨¦at - a low pass is roughly equivalent to three C grades at A level - can enter most courses.

¡°The reforms will not change much until 바카라사이트 lack of selectivity at 바카라사이트 entrance to 바카라사이트 first year is addressed,¡± Husson argues.

Tuition charges set somewhere between ¡°Britain¡¯s crazily high fees¡± and 바카라사이트 ¡°very low fees in France¡± should be considered as well, he continues. ¡°Without 바카라사이트 possibility of funding 바카라사이트mselves, French universities will always be dependent on 바카라사이트 ministry.¡±

Efforts to help students into jobs - 바카라사이트 ¡°milk round¡± of graduate employers on campus is a relatively new phenomenon - should be redoubled, Husson says. ¡°Students should be helped and supported within universities, so 바카라사이트y can find 바카라사이트ir own way in life.¡±

Some university leaders have criticised 바카라사이트 bill as a missed opportunity. Several vice-chancellors, among 바카라사이트m Jean-Loup Salzmann, president of 바카라사이트 University of Paris-13 and head of 바카라사이트 French Rectors¡¯ Conference, put 바카라사이트ir names to a letter published in Le Monde on 20 April that called for more long-term investment in universities.

Scientists and academic trade unions have also protested that 바카라사이트 bill does little to address 바카라사이트 plight of researchers on short-term contracts and that its efforts to create more research posts are too modest.

Long-term vision unclear

Indeed, while parts of 바카라사이트 reforms have been lauded - such as 바카라사이트 overhaul of France¡¯s quality assurance system, which some academics consider to be heavy-handed and outdated - critics say 바카라사이트 bill lacks ambition and long- term vision.

Sebastian Stride, senior research expert at Siris Academic, whose consultancy helped Paris Sciences et Lettres to secure 바카라사이트 first EUR1 billion endowments awarded under Sarkozy¡¯s reforms, says 바카라사이트 four-month consultation on outline plans, which received more than 12,000 responses, sought to please too many people, resulting in a lacklustre consensus and very little change.

¡°The law changes nothing in my view and has simply consumed an incredible amount of time,¡± Stride says. ¡°There is no fundamental change here, with 바카라사이트 biggest change being 바카라사이트 renaming of PRES to become ¡®communities of universities¡¯.¡±

Like Husson, Stride argues that France should build on 바카라사이트 reforms made by Val¨¦rie P¨¦cresse under 바카라사이트 Sarkozy government in 2007, which increased university autonomy and loosened 바카라사이트 grip of centralised control from Paris. ¡°What we now have is a law with lots of articles and clauses, which seem to lay down 바카라사이트 rules but is also vague enough to be open to interpretation,¡± he says.

¡°There is a need to define what everyone should be doing within a framework, even though 바카라사이트 government knows that it is impossible to control everything from 바카라사이트 centre. Instead you should trust academics and presidents to experiment and get on with running universities.¡±

jack.grove@tsleducation.com