The French Brief - Impetus for Reform: Higher Education and Research in France

To be able to compete with other world-class institutions, France has to become more attractive to both students and teachers worldwide.

To address this negative trend, France ought to dedicate 2% of its GDP to higher education (vs 1.5% to date) and 3% to research (vs little more than 2% to date). Concretely, that would mean €10 billion and €20 billion respectively. Overall, France’s indicators remain below OECD average. As a comparison, Germany dedicates 3.1% of its GDP to research, and Japan 3.2%. But what’s more alarming is that, since 2000, France has only increased its research funding by 0.1% points of GDP, against 0.7 in Germany. 

The fact that 77% of higher education is state-funded - wherein the US, it’s 35% and in the UK, it’s 28% - is yet another french peculiarity. 

France needs to expand its public spending on education as a larger percentage of its GDP. But such expenditure cannot rest solely on the public authorities, whose budgetary means are all the more constrained following the Covid-19 crisis. Nor can it be to the detriment of students. 

An increase in private funding is necessary, through a moderate increase in tuition fees for bachelor's and masters’ degrees (excluding doctorates). University tuition fees in France - €170 and €243 per year respectively for bachelor’s and master’s degrees - are negligible compared to the average expenditure per student of €11,670 in 2017. Comparing France’s tuition fees for a bachelor’s degree to that of neighbouring countries reiterates the french peculiarity: €1,500 for Spain; €1,600 for Italy and €2,000 for the Netherlands - not to mention Canada (€4,600), nor the US (€7,400). That gap remains the same for master’s degrees and doctorates. However, such funding model is only fair if accompanied by the redistributive mechanism of income-contingent loans, increased aid for students in financial difficulty and a sustained commitment by the State to higher education. 

Alternative sources of funding should also be developed. Fundraising is still not used enough in France, as opposed to the United States for instance. Simply consider Harvard University which is funded, in great part, by an endowment including thousands of philanthropic gifts to support Harvard’s teaching and research work. In order to give French higher education and research all the means to compete globally, the private sector and alumni networks need to be better engaged in France. 

An evolution in governance

On the new funding model advocated here, french universities should be able to find new levers of autonomy. Autonomy - or lack thereof - is another French specificity. Despite the 2007 law on the universities’ autonomy, French academic institutions have very little leeway over careers and HR, career management of teacher-researchers, and resources allocation. The State oversees the management of the university’s real estate, while social and economic conditions of student life are managed by the Centre national des œuvres universitaires et scolaires (CNOUS) and the Centres régionaux des œuvres universitaires et scolaires (CROUS), two institutions under the supervision of the Ministry.

Similarly, the president’s election - also appointed indirectly by the university's staff and students - is also far from being the general case when looking at foreign systems. While such appointments methods have their perks (e.g. fostering widely shared choice), they can also exacerbate internal quarrels or prevent bold choices. Universities’ Board of Governors should thus be reformed in accordance with international standards (limited number of members, majority of external members) and headed by a president chosen for his or her management skills, not necessarily from among the university’s faculty.

By increasing their autonomy, universities can begin to play the role in ensuring the success of their students and the development of their research activities, both in terms of real estate policy, social support and staff recruitment. 

A strengthened research

Another crucial lever by which to boost France’s attractiveness is a better integration between higher education and research. France’s education is defined by its fragmented and stratified landscape between different administrations, universities, independent research institutions and mixed research units. Such complexity poses problems of legibility and career management that hinder true integration between research and higher education. The shrinking pool of doctoral students in France clearly illustrates the lack of a teaching-research continuum to attract talents. Teaching and research careers are no longer sufficiently attractive. Hence, (re)valuing doctoral contracts and scientific careers goes hand in hand with strong incentives for researchers to invest in teaching. 

In terms of research, a reform of the National Research Agency (ANR) to make it a true agency of means would, with a significantly increased budget, lead to an important development of projects, within the framework of an ambitious strategy. At the European level, France could also benefit more from the European Research Council (ERC) and other programmes such as Horizon 2020. As of today, France benefits relatively little from European funds, thereby depriving itself of the leverage effect that the European Union can provide. Under the Horizon 2020 programme, for every €1 contributed to the EU budget, only €0.66 went to France. Following on, France could also develop the European Research Council (ERC) into a European counterpart to the American National Science Foundation (NSF), which would considerably increase France’s competitiveness worldwide.

France must undertake structural changes of higher education and research around a clear strategic line, solid governance and a collective commitment from all academics, institutions and governmental stakeholders. New higher education and research for a new world - for it is always in the wake of major global crises that the global system has reformed itself. 

Copyright: DAMIEN MEYER / AFP