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A May 1998 report drawn up on the orders of the Minister for National Education proposes a shake-up in the organisation of higher education in France. Reaction from the trade unions is divided.
In May 1998, a report proposing reforms of the higher education system was submitted to the Minister for National Education, Claude Allègre by a committee chaired by Jacques Attali, a former aide to President Mitterrand, which had been set up on the Minister's orders. Taking the assertion that the higher education system is "confusing, bureaucratic and unegalitarian," as a starting point, the report proposes that these problems be rectified by creating a simplified model for higher education studies "which could be a basis for harmonising European higher education systems at a time when Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy have also embarked upon reforms". The report is thus entitled For a European model of higher education (Pour un modèle européen d'enseignement supérieur).
The greatest proposed reform concerns the curriculum. The Attali committee proposes that current undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate studies be replaced with "two levels of qualifications both leading to real professional diplomas". The first level would give students a qualification at the level of "bac 3" - ie the baccalaureate (the secondary school graduation exam giving a qualification for university entrance) plus three years' higher education - and would be awarded by universities and technical colleges. The second level would give students either a qualification of baccalaureate plus five years' higher education (bac 5), with the two additional years taking the form of "professional training", or baccalaureate plus eight years' higher education (bac 8) "specifically centred on research". A limited number of students with a bac 3 qualification would be able to undertake bac 8 studies.
The Grandes Ecoles- the prestigious higher education institutions with competitive entry examinations - could also be affected by this reform. The Attali committee recommended that their curriculum be "more coherent and synchronised with that of the universities", so that both areas of higher learning might be brought closer together. The final recommendation of the committee is to redraw the university map with the aim of tackling geographical inequalities. Eight provincial university centres would be set in place. Not every university would offer every course but every course would be available in each of the "super provinces".
Opinion is divided on the proposals among the education trade unions. The FEN (Fédération de l'éducation nationale) has indicated that it will support "all reforms which aim to give the same resources to all courses of study, provide bridges between curricula, offer career-oriented programmes, set up a university map free of regional inequalities, synchronise curricula and harmonise the number of years of study before obtaining a diploma, whatever the curriculum". The other two teachers' unions do not share this opinion. The SGEN-CFDT (Syndicat général de l'Education nationale - Confédération française démocratique du travail) condemns the report on the grounds that it "delivers a pre-packaged system in which there is no place for unions and employers". Furthermore, it considers that "it is not by lengthening the duration of studies that we can fight failure or resolve the problem of access to higher education for students with vocational baccalaureates" (the vocational secondary school vocational graduation exam). The largest teachers' union, the FSU (Fédération syndicale unitaire), is also wary of a report which "advocates a European model which exists only in Jacques Attali's dreams." It is also concerned by the creation of a bac 3 level, which would in its opinion, act as a deterrent to students from modest backgrounds who undertake short-term study.