Higher Education and Graduate Employment in France

Abstract

Compared to other European higher education systems, the French one seems more complex. Indeed, it juxtaposes a huge, mainly open, university sector and a myriad of schools and institutes with generally limited access. The university sector is itself rather complex, since it is not organised around a clearly defined first degree. There exist different layers of diplomas which follow each other without any explicit exit level. The university sector also has an official role in preparing students for the competitive exams for civil service occupations.In the university sector, there are five levels of diplomas:1. the DEUG (Diploà me d'Etude Universitaire Ge Âne Ârale) and the DUT (Diplo à me Universitaire Technologique), awarded after two years of study; 2. the Licence (three years of study); 3. the Maõ Ãtrise (four years of study); 4. the DEA (Diplo à me d'Etudes Approfondies) and the DESS (Diplo à me d'Etudes Supe Ârieures Spe Âcialise Âes) which are respectively applied and specialised diplomas, awarded after five years of study; 5. the Doctorat, the highest level of study in the university sector, is awarded after a minimum of eight years of study. Most of the courses at the universities are open access courses, but there are some university institutes that are selective. These are the IUTs (Instituts Universitaires Technologiques), which award the DUT (Diploà me Universitaire Technologique) and the IUPs (Instituts Universitaires Professionnalise Âs) that award Maõ Ãtrises. In addition, other various maõ Ãtrises are selective: • MST (Maõ Ãtrise de Sciences et Techniques) (Science and Technology); • MIAGE (Maõ Ãtrise d'Informatique Applique Âe a Á la Gestion des Entreprises) (Computing Applied to Business Administration); • MSG (Maõ Ãtrise de Sciences de Gestion) (Management Sciences); • MSBM (Maõ Ãtrise de Sciences Biologiques et Me Âdicales) (Biological and Medical Sciences).Finally, MagisteÁ res, DEAs, DESSs and Doctorats are also selective. In addition, the second year of university medicine, dentistry and pharmaceutical studies can also be considered as selective: first-year students on these three courses have to pass a numerus clausus entry exam to enter the second year.

Increasing potentials of alumni research for curriculum reforms: Some experiences from a German research institute

“…Data gathering was done with the help of national and international conferences, often undertaken in cooperation with other institutions (Teichler, 1979;Brennan, Kogan, and Teichler, 1995). In addition, scholars were invited to write trend reports (Kehm and Teichler, 1995) or detailed accounts of available research (Holtkamp and Teichler, 1983;Burkhardt, Schomburg, and Teichler, 2000;Paul, Teichler, and Van der Velden, 2000) as well as synthesizing analyses (Teichler and Sanyal, 1982;Teichler, 1988Teichler, , 1999aTeichler, , 1999bTeichler, , 1999cTeichler, , 2003. This national and international effort yielded valuable information for researchers and practitioners and informed the center's research plans.…”

Higher education and unemployment in Europe: an analysis of the academic subject and national effects

“…Nevertheless, most of these focus on particular countries. Such studies include: Jones et al (1987) and Woodley & Brennan (2000) for the UK; Plumper and Schneider (2007) and Schomburg (2000) for Germany; Paul and Murdoch (2000) for France; Moscati and Rostan (2000) for Italy; Gines et al (2000) for Spain ;Cardoso and Ferreira (2008) for Portugal; and Livanos (2009) for Greece.…”

Higher education in Romania: Evolution and views from the business community

“…They want adaptable people, people who can use their abilities and skills to make the organisation evolve through bright ideas and persuading colleagues to adopt new approaches and they want transformative employees, people who can anticipate and lead change, who have higher level skills, such as analysis, critique, synthesis, etc (Woodley & Brennan 2000). Similarly, other studies showed that employers generally look for the following in graduates: knowledge -general and business related -, technical know-how in the field of communication, personal skills, flexibility and ambition in France (Paul & Murdoch 2000); specialised competence, methodological competence, social competence and participatory competence in Spain (Mora, Garcia-Montalvo & GarciaAracil 2000); and work attitudes, knowledge, social skills and instrumental skills in Netherlands (Allen, Boezerooy, de Weert & van der Velden 2000).…”

“…We can mention the recent studies conducted in a number of European countries: in France by Paul & Murdoch (2000), in Germany by Schomburg (2000), in Italy by Moscati & Rostan (2000), in Norway by Arnesen (2000), in Austria by Kellermann & Sagmeister (2000), in UK by Woodley & Brennan (2000) and others. These studies analysed mainly the relationship between higher education and employment in statistical terms, but also in qualitative terms through aspects such as the abilities and skills graduates need in order to integrate into the labour market.…”