When I was younger, I heard about college and university structures of places outside of the United States, and generally I was confused by them. It was not until I took a French course in college, that the structure was explained to me in such a way that it made sense.
In the United States, the "traditional" college student applies to various colleges and universities across the country. The decide on which ones to apply to based on university prestige, class size, courses offered, degree programs, institutional culture, financial need and geography. For the "traditional" American college student, the final decision on where to attend is based on a combination of those variables. During the first year, and sometimes later years, students live on the campus they attend with hundreds or thousands of other students. If a student is unhappy with the institition chosen, they can transfer at the end of the semester to another one, and hope that institution is a better fit.
In France, as well as many other European countries, the system better resembles that of our secondary or community college system. Instead of deciding where to attend based on a combination of variables, the deciding factor is geography. Most students of higher education attend whatever school is closest to where they are currently living. Instead of living on campus, French students are commuter students. There is also no clear hierarchy to institutions of higher education, for the most part they are all equally prestigous.
Although French universities are seen on an equal level, French students are aware that Universities across the world exist on a hierarchy of prestige. That has previously meant that French students looking to attend a University based on name recognition, have gone else where to get that education.
Educators in France have realized this trend and are now beginning to delve into the realm of "Ivy League" universities. The article "A French Ivy League", discusses France's plan to create a system that will better fit the wants and needs of French students attending Ivy League institutions abroad. The new system will consist of four large universitiy clusters, with the hope that two will carry the prestige that comes with higher admissions criteria. Right now three of those "clusters" have already been decided; the University of Bordeaux, the University of Strasbourg and the University of Paris: Science et Lettres. Each will integrate anywhere from 3 to 8 smaller institutions, and changes may begin as early next year.
'Ivy League" and university prestige was a realm of higher education dominated exclusively by the United States and the United Kingdom. According to US News the top ten universities in the world are:
1. The University of Cambridge
2. Harvard
3. Yale
4. University College London
5. MIT
6. University of Oxford
7. Imperial College London
8. University of Chicago
9. Caltech
10. Princeton
All of which are in either the United States or the United Kingdom. If you continue down the list, universities from other countries do not appear until spot 18, McGill a Canandian university. With France attempting to become a big player in the "Ivy League" business, will this change how schools in the United States and the United Kingdom do business? Will adding a competitor to the mix pressure institutions to improve in order to maintain their current ranking?
What an interesting blog. I am surprised to see Educators in France wanting to divide themselves out based on perceived prestige. Now, I cannot really say I know much about the French education system but I guess I am thrown by the idea of moving from an equal system (all French universities viewed as equally prestige’s) to a divided system.
ReplyDeleteI can understand the desire to create name recognition and to retain students that may be going elsewhere but I am having a tough time basing that on the Ivy League process.
In response to your question...I do not imagine that the UK and US would change how they do business now but maybe a few years from now. They do still have the prestige of long histories and proven value versus a system just starting.
I agree with Karla- this is surprising to me. The prestige of US institutions is obviously linked to money, but the history of the institution is an important component too. At least for American students, there's a definite draw to an institution with the historic name recognition and literal ivy running up 200+ year old buildings. There are plenty of US institutions who aim to improve their rankings through various initiatives- mostly involving funding. Sure they may bump up a few notches, but the no-name institution (which may very well offer an excellent education) is going to be hard pressed to compete with an Ivy or MIT. I do wonder if French students will respond differently. Certainly "history" is a relative term when comparing institutions across the world. Perhaps French students will be less impacted by historical prestige of institutions, given the more substantial history of their own country, and more focused on practical factors (i.e. type of degree program, career preparation, etc.) than American college students? I'm going to pay attention to this one and see how things shake out in a few years.
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