France

Describing the higher education system of a country always brings to mind how idiosyncratic such systems are and how what seems obvious for local inhabitants may appear strange and lead to difficulties in comprehension for external observers. On the one hand, it is tempting to simplify complexity in order to keep the text readable but, on the other hand, one must go into detail in order to avoid false similarities. It also inevitably leads to somewhat overemphasizing the specificity of each country in order to better characterize it. This chapter will not escape these biases. In the first section, the particularities of the history of universities in French higher education will be stressed. In the second one, the main features of today’s French higher education system will be described. In the third section, some reflections and data on the French academic profession and its related academic labor markets will be presented. The final section will deal with the ongoing evolutions and the forthcoming challenges of higher education in France.