Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword by His Excellency
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I: Teaching and Training Partnerships
- Part II: Research Partnerships
- Part III: Broader Perspectives
- Appendices: Addresses and Speeches at the Franco-British Academic Partnerships Seminar, French Institute, London, 5 February 2010
- 1 David Willetts, Mp: Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills
- 2 Valérie Pécresse: Ministre de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche
- 3 Rick Trainor: Principal, King's College London
- 4 Florentine Petit: Direction des Relations Européennes et Internationales et de la Coopération, Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche
- 5 Brigitte Porée: The French Grandes Écoles and British Universities: Director of International Affairs, Conférence des Grandes Écoles
- 6 Monique Canto-Sperber: Director of the École Normale Supérieure, Paris
- 7 Sir Howard Davies: Franco-British University Collaboration – Can We Realise Churchill's 1940 Vision?: Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science
- 8 Adam Steinhouse: Academic–Government Partnerships – A Pragmatic View: Head of School of European Studies at the National School of Government
- 9 Hélène Duchêne: Directeur des Politiques de Mobilité et d'Attractivité, Direction de la Mondialisation, du Développement et des Partenariats, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères
- 10 Support for Higher Education from the French Embassy: Philippe Lane and Serge Plattard
- 11 Strengths and Opportunities in the British University System: Philippe Lane and Serge Plattard
2 - Valérie Pécresse: Ministre de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche
from Appendices: Addresses and Speeches at the Franco-British Academic Partnerships Seminar, French Institute, London, 5 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Foreword by His Excellency
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I: Teaching and Training Partnerships
- Part II: Research Partnerships
- Part III: Broader Perspectives
- Appendices: Addresses and Speeches at the Franco-British Academic Partnerships Seminar, French Institute, London, 5 February 2010
- 1 David Willetts, Mp: Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills
- 2 Valérie Pécresse: Ministre de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche
- 3 Rick Trainor: Principal, King's College London
- 4 Florentine Petit: Direction des Relations Européennes et Internationales et de la Coopération, Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche
- 5 Brigitte Porée: The French Grandes Écoles and British Universities: Director of International Affairs, Conférence des Grandes Écoles
- 6 Monique Canto-Sperber: Director of the École Normale Supérieure, Paris
- 7 Sir Howard Davies: Franco-British University Collaboration – Can We Realise Churchill's 1940 Vision?: Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science
- 8 Adam Steinhouse: Academic–Government Partnerships – A Pragmatic View: Head of School of European Studies at the National School of Government
- 9 Hélène Duchêne: Directeur des Politiques de Mobilité et d'Attractivité, Direction de la Mondialisation, du Développement et des Partenariats, Ministère des Affaires Étrangères
- 10 Support for Higher Education from the French Embassy: Philippe Lane and Serge Plattard
- 11 Strengths and Opportunities in the British University System: Philippe Lane and Serge Plattard
Summary
This seminar on Franco-British academic partnerships comes at a time when French higher education is entering a phase of deep mutation, the main characteristics of which I wish to recall here.
Since 2007, higher education has been a top priority for the French government, which is keen to bring universities back to the centre of the French education and research system, so that it can become a fully fledged actor on the international stage, able to respond to its challenges.
The central element of this reform is the law on the Liberties and Responsibilities of Universities (LRU), passed on 10 August 2007. This law defines the missions of universities in the field of teaching and research, and in the organisation of student life, careers advice and professional integration – the last two of these having now explicitly become obligations for the institutions. It draws the broad outline of a new governance for universities, where the powers of presidents and the competences of university councils are redefined; it strengthens the contract between the state and the institutions and grants universities a large degree of autonomy in managing their budgets.
The LRU also encourages institutions to better position themselves in their local, regional and also international environment. Thus it is now possible for universities and other academic institutions to create ‘poles of research and higher education’ (PRES), which can lead to the merging of partner institutions, as has been the case in Strasbourg.
In parallel with the LRU, large-scale projects have been launched to provide institutions with the means to succeed, for instance the plan licence, which helps undergraduate students to obtain their degrees, and the opération Campus, a project which aims to upgrade university buildings and allows the funding of 12 campuses linking universities and Grandes Écoles, selected on the basis of their scientific and pedagogical ambitions, thereby allowing them to strengthen their international attractiveness and to offer better services to their students.
It must also be pointed out that a quality assurance procedure has been put in place, with the creation in 2007 of the Agency for the Evaluation of Higher Education and Research (Agence d’Évaluation de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, AERES), whose mission is to evaluate institutions and organisations, research units, and higher education courses and degrees.
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- Franco-British Academic PartnershipsThe Next Chapter, pp. 205 - 207Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2011