Higher Education in France and the United States: Historical Development and Structure

Abstract

In September of 2005, The Economist magazine released a survey of higher education1 declaring that "America's system of higher education is the best in the world. That is because there is no system." Three reasons for America's success were cited: limited involvement of the federal government; a spirit of competition between institutions of higher learning; and the idea that American universities were not afraid to abandon a strictly classical education and be 'useful'. By contrast, the survey portrayed European higher education as an archaic 'mess', citing fundamental problems such as too much state control and the lack of freedom at the disposal of institutions of higher learning to manage their own affairs. This paper will explore the argument put forth by The Economist by presenting higher education in the United States and France. The reason for choosing France is because it represents, in many ways, the archetypical model of centralized, state control. The position which each nation embodies in higher education and in many other aspects of society - centralization versus de­ centralization, the so-called French model versus the Anglo-Saxon model - warrants explanation. The idea that the French state is reluctant to embrace liberal reforms, or that the United States worships the free-market has become...