The University of Rouen Normandy - France

French higher education: new developments with respect to the Bologna process and new relations for more effective cooperation with universities by Prof.Dr.Cafer Özkul, President Speech plan :  The French Education System  Rouen University  Structures of cooperation between universities and industry

1- The French Education System-  Primary education (that lasts five years, from approximately age 6 to age 11).  Secondary education  Higher education

Primary and Secondary education  institutions that are highly centralized in their administration  A secondary education divided in 2 stages  Stage 1 : Junior High School  Stage 2 : High School  The baccalauréat : entrance exam for higher education

Higher education  A dual system : Composed of Universities and « Grandes Ecoles »  A three cycle system, called LMD system  a relatively new effort to harmonize degree qualifications in France with the rest of Europe  A years of study system

3 years5 years8 years Bachelor (Licence) L1 L2 L3 Master Doctoral degree Bachelor- Master- Doctoral degree

The specific case of medicine and pharmacy studies  First cycle called PCEM in 2 years  Second cycle called DCEM in 4 years (study + hospital internship)  This 6 years study leads to the vocational qualification only in Dentistry and Pharmacy  Third cycle culminating in State diplomas  national diploma of practitioner in medicine (3 years)  national diploma in specialized medicine (5 years)

Higher education  In addition, vocational degrees are offered in either universities or high schools  DUT : in 2 years after the bac in IUTs  BTS : a 2 year diploma provided by high schools

Schools for engineering degrees, “Grandes Ecoles”  public and private institutions that are selective  generally offer a more specialized three-year course of study  with majors in business, public administration, or engineering  leading to a master’s degree plus an engineering diploma

A broad array of institutions- universities offer thousands of degree programs at all levels  Difficult to compare with the US system  A budget for education = 20% of the annual budget of the french state  A close national monitoring of the quality of instruction/curricular content  a long tradition of openness and accessibility  Inexpensive tuition fees

2- The University of Rouen France

Rouen Paris

 2400 lecturers, researchers and other staff  students (3000 international students)  900 PhD students,130 defended PhD / year A seven-campus University

 Sports  Sciences and technologies  Health Science, Medicine, Pharmacy  Sociology, Psychology and Education Sciences  Law, Economics, Managment  Humanities, letters and arts Our outstanding academic departments and programs are offered in 6 faculties :

 The institute for business management  The institute for general administration  The institute for teacher training  2 institutes of technology And 5 institutes :

 An elected President  3 boards:  The Administrative Board  The scientific board, only consultative  The education and student life board, only consultative University gouvernance  Teaching quality evaluation cell  Vocational insertion  Research  International relations  Long life learning  Sandwich courses  Distant learning  In addition to the general adminstrative services, several services dedicated to academic goals :

3- Structures of cooperation between universities, research establishements and industry  Mixed research units  Competitive clusters  PRES : a hub for higher education and research  GRR : extended research networks

 Mixed research units An original feature of the French higher education and research system: The research units of the national research establishments are installed inside universities and jointly operated. CNRS (26000 permanent employees), INSERM,INRA, INRIA, IRD, INRETS, CEA, ONERA, IFREMER

Competitive clusters  In 2002 a new industrial strategy based on the development of competitive clusters to increase French industrial potential  A strategy based on active partneship between manufacturers, research centers and training bodies  A strategy also conducted at the EU level  A « competitive cluster » label granted to selected projects  2 main types of clusters  Very high-tech clusters with an international profile  Clusters based on an industrial base in French areas of specialization or development

PRES (a hub for higher education and research)  Connects different universities, engineering schools and teaching hospitals, often from the same city or neighbouring region  The main objectives:  acquisition of costly equipment to be shared between labs  training PhD students  promotion and transfer of research  International development  19 existing PRES today in France and some others to come

GRR : extended research networks  Thematic research networks at a regional scale supported by local administration with grants :  for PhD students  for scientific equipment  for conference organisation  In order to impulse collaboration between labs working in the same field  6 in the Higher Normandy Region

To summarize :  The aim of these collaborative structures is to favor the innovative research and higher education actions in order to contribute to the local, national and european economic development.  To say the truth, part of these new education and research organisations were originated from the international ranking objective, especially from the highly criticized Shangai ranking.  This motivation also impacts the federative projects supported by european funds.