France can lay claim to the world's first university, founded in Paris during the 13th century (La Sorbonne, 1253). The university had no buildings, and eminent thinkers including Abélard and St Thomas Aquinas taught Philosophy, Theology, Science and Literature in the public squares.

The Italian city of Bologna adopted the idea, as well as Oxford and Cambridge in England. The universities were completely independent, with their own regulations and statutes.

Under the emperor Napoléon, politicians began to realize the importance of education in developing economic prosperity. The first state university was founded in 1806, and in 1826, the first Ministry of Public Education came into being.

Currently France’s eighty-seven universities are spread throughout the country. Sixty-five of them are members of CampusFrance

The universities are public institutions, they offer general education programs. They award specific or national diplomas. The French Ministry of Education sets national standards to guarantee the uniformity of the academic curriculum and to facilitate student mobility.

French universities cover the entire range of academic disciplines, from Science to Technology, through Literature, Linguistics, French as a Second Language (FLE), Economics, Medical Studies and related disciplines, Athletics, etc. They may also include research centers, institutes, and laboratories.

Studies of Medicine, Pharmacology, and Dentistry fall into a specific category of academic studies.

UNIVERSITY DEGREES - FRENCH AND PHILIPPINE QUALIFICATIONS

The process of harmonization of the European higher education system within the European Union resulted in a new architecture of the French university degrees, referred to as LMD (Licence/Maîtrise/Doctorat) or 3-5-8.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

There is no perfect similarity between the Philippine and French university degrees, therefore French universities examine the applications for admission on a case-by-case basis.

The chart below illustrates the equivalence between the French and Philippine systems:

------------------FRANCE---------PHILIPPINES-------------------------

------------------Baccalauréat*--High School diploma*-----------

Bac +3 years---Licence--------3 years academic degree

Bac +4 years---Maîtrise 1------Bachelor degree (AB,BS)**

Bac +5 years---Maîtrise 2------Master’s degree (MA,MBA) or Double-major bachelor degrees (AB, BS)***

Bac +8 years---Doctorat-------PhD

* The Philippine High School diploma is not necessarily equivalent to the French Baccalauréat (or Bac).

** A Philippine Bachelor’s degree may be considered as equivalent to Licence or Maîtrise 1.

*** A Philippine MA degree may be considered as equivalent to Maîtrise, if the student has defended a MA thesis. Otherwise he/she might be required to complete few courses at the level of Licence.

TUITION FEES