France

• Membership in EQAR
  France has been a Governmental Member of EQAR since February 2008.

  Read more: all Governmental Members of EQAR

• National external quality assurance requirements

  There are three main categories (in terms of numbers) of higher education institutions (HEIs) in France: public universities, the « Grandes Écoles » (such as prestigious schools of engineering, or business and management), and schools of art and architecture. The « Grandes Écoles » are either public or private HEIs that are typically smaller in size compared to universities.

  All legislative and regulatory provisions relating to the French educational system are incorporated in a single reference document, the education code (see below weblink to Code de l'éducation - in French).

  • Evaluations of higher education institutions
    are carried out every 5 years.

  • Review of disciplinary ‘fields’
    are carried out every 5 years.

  • Evaluation of sites using a ‘top-down approach’
    newly introduced in 2017.

  • Evaluation of doctoral schools
    are carried out every 5 years.

• Cross-border quality assurance

  In France under certain conditions higher education institutions may choose a suitable EQAR-registered agency.

  • Eligibility requirements for foreign agencies: N/A

  • Conditions for the agencies’ work (e.g. criteria to be used): criteria and procedures for external quality assurance must be validated by the High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education (HCERES).

  • Recognition of reviews carried out by foreign agencies: HCERES checks the external quality assurance activity, whether it corresponds to the national qualifications framework and whether the foreign quality assurance has effectively involved students in the review.

  Read more: countries where higher education institutions may choose a suitable EQAR-registered agency

• European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes

  In France the European Approach is available to higher education institutions under certain conditions.

  The European Approach could be used subject to the general conditions for recognising QA results of EQAR-registered agencies, as described above.

  Read more: countries where the European Approach is available to higher education institutions

• Further information

  • Code de la recherche, Article L114-3-1 (in French)

  • Ministry responsible for higher education

  • ENIC NARIC

  • France - European Higher Education Area

Registered agencies operating in France