Sorbonne Confidential

No Rewards for Ambition and Creativity - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

France is a country of rigidities dominated by corporatist vested interests. The result is a society that stifles individuality, creativity and ambition. It is not only eminent biologists and economists who leave France. There are also masses of talented young people who just can’t stand it: some go to the U.S., others to the U.K. and elsewhere.  --- It Will Get Worse for France   Jean-Pierre Lehmann is a professor of international political economy at IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

via www.nytimes.com

Out-Frenching the French - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

The salaries at U.S. colleges for young science scholars are roughly three times higher than those in France, no small consideration. We also out-French the French when it comes to working conditions. Academics appreciate the better laboratories and more time for research (and fewer hours devoted to classroom teaching). No wonder that, from 1996 to 2006, 40 percent of the French science students who came to the U.S. for their education stayed in America. From 1971 to 1980 only 7 percent of the visiting French remained.

In general, however, it is likely the American entrepreneurial spirit is what captivates the French, as it does so many others.

via www.nytimes.com

Wine, Cheese and Stultification - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Once one passes the Agrégation -- a civil-service exam given to those wishing to become a full professor -- there is little incentive to publish. As a result, French academics publish less than their peers in other countries. France ranks sixth worldwide (after England, Japan, Germany and the United States) with 4.3 percent of publications in 2007, a decline from 5.4 percent in 1995. More important, if one looks at the share of citations in international journals from 2000-2009, France ranks 13th. -- Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

via www.nytimes.com

The Academic Immigrant's Motivation - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

The French spend less than one half as much per student on higher education than do the Americans, and only 1.3 percent of their G.D.P. on universities versus 2.9 percent in the United States. American institutions pay higher salaries, and offer better facilities, and lower teaching loads, and so on.  --Richard Vedder directs the Center for College Affordability and Productivity and teaches economics at Ohio University.

via www.nytimes.com

Why French Scholars Love U.S. Colleges - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

"A study by the Institut Montaigne found that academics constitute a much larger percentage of French émigrés to the United States today than 30 years ago: 27 percent of the total from 1996 to 2006, compared with 8 percent from 1971 and 1980. In particular, many of France’s best biologists and economists are now in the United States.

-- Peter Baldwin is a professor of history at University of California, Los Angeles, and the author, most recently, of “The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How America and Europe Are Alike.”

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/11/28/why-french-scholars-love-us-colleges/the-academic-highway-runs-both-ways

 

via www.nytimes.com

Les notes à l'école, pour quoi faire ? - Société - Nouvelobs.com

Extrait d'un article de Caroline Brizard dans Le Nouvel Observateur

"A l'école, 43% des élèves ont souvent mal au ventre avant d'aller en classe, 24% ont le sentiment que le maître les dévalorisent et les sanctionnent, 31% pensent qu'il ne s'intéresse pas à eux, et un enfant sur deux pense qu'il ne va pas arriver à faire ce que le maître lui demande, et craint de montrer ses notes à ses parents", cite Eunice Mangano, une des responsables de l'Afev. Des chiffres qui font écho aux résultats des enquêtes de l'OCDE sur le bonheur à l'école. La France est 22e sur 25. Stress, peur de ne pas bien répondre... Pour tous ces élèves, le stigmate de l'échec, c'est la mauvaise note. L'Afev réclame d'autres manières de travailler : plus de solidarité, de coopération ; moins de compétition, de jugements de valeur. Pour forcer ce changement, il faut porter le fer au cœur du système. L'association lance donc un appel solennel pour supprimer les notes à l'école primaire. Parmi les premiers signataires : le généticien Axel Kahn, l'ancien Premier ministre Michel Rocard, l'écrivain Daniel Pennac...

via tempsreel.nouvelobs.com

Students protest against fees hike in England

An estimated 50,000 students attend central London rally, during which windows were smashed at Tory HQ

via www.guardian.co.uk

Research published by the UCU shows the annual cost of a degree has risen by 300% in two decades. It says the cost of going to university to a graduate from an average household in 1988-89 was £1,545.50. This had risen to £6,360 by the latest academic year. By 2012 – the year the new tuition fee cap is due to be introduced – the union suggests that the annual cost for fees and maintenance will be £12,750.

see The Guardian for complete article

Growing Scrutiny on For Profit Universities Financed by Federal Student Loans

over the last few months, Kaplan and other for-profit education companies have come under intense scrutiny from Congress, amid growing concerns that the industry leaves too many students mired in debt, and with credentials that provide little help in finding jobs.

Reports of students who leave such schools with heavy debt, only to work in low-paying jobs, have prompted the Department of Education to propose regulations that would cut off federal financing to programs whose graduates have high debt-to-income ratios and low repayment rates.

via www.nytimes.com

Le scandale des étudiants chinois en France - dérapages et fraudes

Suite à l'affaire de l'université du Sud Toulon-Var en 2009, avec des inscriptions massives d'étudiants chinois - qui représentaient le tiers des inscrits dans certains masters - et des présomptions de fraude aux diplômes, le gouvernement a publié un rapport. 

Extrait d'un article du Point par Franck Renard

Une absence de stratégie doublée d'une politique de sélection conditionnée par la demande chinoise ouverte à tous les dérapages : les inspections générales de l'administration de l'Éducation nationale et de la Recherche et du ministère des Affaires étrangères mettent les pieds dans le plat. Avec un rapport commandé en décembre 2009 par Valérie Pécresse et Bernard Kouchner, consacré à la sélection et à l'accueil des étudiants chinois en France....

Des universités prennent ainsi des préinscriptions massives d'étudiants chinois, souvent peu ou pas francophones, et n'assurent aucun suivi : après quelques mois de cours de français langue étrangère (FLE), ces étudiants disparaissent et s'inscrivent ailleurs... dans le meilleur des cas. Côté ambassade de France en Chine, l'application informatique censée gérer les projets d'études des jeunes Chinois et servir d'interface avec l'université d'accueil en France ne fonctionne pas.

pour lire l'article du Point www.lepoint.fr

Attend great lectures from MIT, Harvard, Yale and Stanford for free on the internet

Dear students at French universities,

The next time activists block your campus, go home and treat yourself to a brilliant lecture from a top professor at a $50,000 a year Ivy League school. Here's how...

selection from NYT's article For Exposure, Universities put Courses on the Web by D.D. Guttenplan

"M.I.T.’s announcement in 2001 that it was going to put its entire course catalog online gave a jump-start to what has now become a global Open Educational Resources Movement whose goal, said Susan D’Antoni of Athabasca University, in Canada, is “to try to share the world’s knowledge.”

Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the University of Michigan all now offer substantial portions of their courses online. In Britain, the Open University, which has been delivering distance learning for over 40 years, offers free online courses in every discipline on the OpenLearn Web site; the Open University also maintains a dedicated YouTube channel and has often had courses listed on the top 10 downloads at iTunes University. There, students can gain access to beginner courses in French, Spanish and German as well as courses in history, philosophy and astronomy — all free."

to read the complete article,  www.nytimes.com