| ©
If you are reproducing any of the work below, please quote
the following reference:
Mortimer, P (2005): France: the move
towards distance education in the university sector
http://peter.mortimer.free.fr/en/instructional_case_studies_article_qrde.htm |
Abstract
This
study briefly outlines the current development of distance education
in France's state universities and the government's recent initiatives
in this field leading to the emergence of what is now termed 'Digital
Campuses' (Campus numériques). A brief statistical
overview initially situates French universities within the framework
of the country's state education system (Education Nationale).
The beginnings of distance education in France in general is evoked,
with the creation of the state-run CNED (Centre national d'enseignement
à distance) in 1939. Analysis of the CNED's 2003 yearly
report focuses on the programmes it offers and its vast international
audience, while also shedding light on the current decline in
its enrolments. Lifelong learning in France – albeit at
a critically low level – is mentioned with a view to pinpointing
the need for progress on this front, not least from the university
sector.
Finally, the study describes the vigorous government initiatives
that have, since 2001, generated tangible results, enabling the
creation of distance learning programmes produced and run by consortia
of existing universities within France, or in collaboration with
other tertiary education institutions in France and abroad.
* * * * * * *
France: the move towards distance education in the university
sector
Peter
MORTIMER, M.A. University of London
'The next big "killer application" for the Internet
is going to be education.'
John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems
INTRODUCTION
France: one of the most modern countries in the world today and
a leading force in Europe (CIA, 2004). With a population of just
over 60 million people (July 2004 estimate), statistics show the
median age in France to be a low 38.6 years, thanks to strong
government encouragement to have larger families. Life expectancy
is a comfortable 79 due to a sophisticated health and welfare
system, the cost of which nonetheless bites into the French taxpayers'
pocket. The tax burden in France is one of the highest in Europe:
43.8% of the national GDP in 2003.
A highly literate and well-educated society, France's education
statistics for 2003 show 12.1 million French children in primary
and secondary education and 2.2 million students in tertiary education.
Public expenditure on education is 5.8% of the national GDP (cf.
United Kingdom: 4.4%). In the field of science and technology,
expenditure on research and development is 2.2% of the GDP, compared
with 1.9% in the UK (UNESCO, 2004).
How well then is higher education in France coping with the advent
of distance education? To answer this question, we first need
to present briefly the path leading to higher education.
Heading
for university
Education in France is generally of a strong academic persuasion.
Rote learning - even at university level - is still prevalent
today; a long-standing tradition of memorisation ardently and
eloquently upheld by the philosopher and writer, George Steiner,
brought up in Paris in the 1930s:
'We
were in a system – the French lycée system [secondary
education] – where memory was felt to be your greatest
asset. […] Most of present schooling is organised amnesia…
(BBC
Radio 4, 1997)
The
inclination in French education towards the straightforward transmission
of knowledge and the inherent risk of a right/wrong attitude to
learning, was highlighted in a recent study by the Education Department
of the University of Bristol (Broadfoot et al., 2000). The authors,
reviewing the attitudes and achievements of 400 English and 400
French pupils aged between nine and eleven, reached these conclusions:
'In
France, there is a "nationally-derived assumption that
educational success is based on effort, rather than ability".
[…] To French children, the main goal was to get the answer
right - so they would tend not even to try questions about which
they were unsure. English children were more likely to devise
a strategy for solving an unfamiliar problem.'
(BBC
Online News, 2000)
In
secondary education, the summative examination at eighteen, the
baccalauréat demands knowledge of a wide range
of subjects, unlike the more limited 'A' level system in the UK.
The baccalauréat - or the bac as it is
commonly called – does nonetheless allow for some degree
of specialisation.
It
is important to note that passing the bac enables secondary
school pupils automatic access to university education. This ease
of transition, favourable as it might seem to promoting an academically
gifted élite, is nonetheless a source of trouble.
Firstly,
many pupils apply to university merely to escape unemployment.
Statistics for June 2003 show an overall unemployment rate of
9.4% in France, whilst the number of under-25s unemployed stands
at 19.9%, amongst the highest in Europe, and far beyond the 12.7%
of under-25s that are jobless in the United Kingdom, for example
(Eurostat, 2003). Secondly, the academic emphasis of the bac does
little to orient pupils professionally; many of them enter their
first year at university as if it were an extension of school
with no thought to a future career at the outcome. Furthermore,
little or no help from an assigned tutor is on hand in French
universities to aid first-year students in coming to terms with
their new learning environment. These drawbacks in many cases
quickly lead to students dropping out or having to change courses
in mid-year. And for those who do 'stay the course', many are
hampered by their lack of preparation for the academic discipline
that university life supposes and the 'having to work on your
own' approach to learning that university entails.
DISTANCE EDUCATION IN FRANCE
The generally accepted starting date for distance education in
France is 1939. With the outbreak of World War 2 and the German
invasion of northern France, children were relocated to the south
of France, triggering the need for a massive solution for their
education. This provoked the creation of the state-run Service
d'enseignement par correspondance et radio: the Correspondance-
and Radio-supported Teaching Service. In its first year, the service
provided instruction for 7 500 learners, with a total staff of
100 teachers, 52 markers, four typists and three clerks, and alongside
printed material, two hours of instructional programmes were also
broadcast every day. Since then, the service - now called the
CNED (Centre national d'enseignement à distance:
the National Centre for Distance Education) - has evolved enormously.
It remains a government body and is manned largely by teachers
trained and employed by the state. With a 2003 total of some 323
000 enrolled learners, the CNED ranks as Europe's number one provider
of distance education. One third of the learners are involved
in primary or secondary education courses, one fifth in teacher
training and a further fifth in adult training courses of various
types. A good third of all learners (35%) are resident in Africa,
due to the widespread use of French as a second language in West
and North Africa. A further 30% are in Europe, 13% in the USA
and 13% in Asia (CNED yearly report, 2003, Annex A-V & A-VIII).
The
CNED: On a slippery slope
Despite its far-reaching popularity, the CNED has seen its enrolments
plummet recently, with a loss of some 72 000 enrolments since
1999. Figures in its yearly report for 2003 show a catastrophic
fall of 8% on the previous year, and statistics also indicate
that a staggering two thirds of learners drop out in their first
year. Two major drawbacks may explain these figures. Firstly,
a turn-around time for getting assignments back to learners of
up to six weeks; a fact often cited as one of the major reasons
for demotivation. Secondly, the glaring failure of the organisation
in the 90s to initiate web-based and electronic media for course
delivery and student support; 95% of all materials are still print-based
and delivered by the postal service. It is significant however
to note that enrolments abroad nonetheless continue to progress,
no doubt influenced by the fact that the postal service - in the
poorer African countries, for example – often remains the
only means of delivery available.
One
may hypothesize that the CNED's poor strategic planning is due
to its institutional structure, belonging as it does to the French
state education system. Equally, its mandatory workforce - a long-standing
heritage from its creation in 1939 – of teachers with civil
service status has perhaps afforded the institution little scope
for change. Moreover, the introduction and implementation of information
technology (IT) throughout the entire French education system,
not just the CNED, has over the past ten years been painfully
slow. State-employed teachers, ill-informed of the advent of IT
and offered scant opportunities to acquire new skills in that
field, have dragged their feet in the uptake of new technology;
and surprising as it may seem, nowhere more so than at university
level.
DISTANCE EDUCATION IN FRENCH UNIVERSITIES
The concept of education as a market commodity - long since prevalent
in the world of distance education – is ill-received in
university circles in France. Downes and Janes strenuously uphold
the concept and remind us that it is the learners themselves who
– justifiably! – 'call the shots':
'New
Zealand’s tertiary education sector has experienced significant
changes over the past few years. As a result, tertiary education
is now viewed as a commodity by students and by the wider community
– and tertiary institutions must respond appropriately.'
(2003:
p.1)
French
universities: Biting the bullet
This innate reluctance throughout French universities to adopt
the concept of education as a market commodity - with its intrinsic
value - has put a brake on any significant progress in getting
substantial distance programmes online.
In 1998, Jacques Vauthier, at the time secretary general of the
FIED, Fédération interuniversitaire d'enseignement
à distance (Interuniversity Distance Education Federation)
and vice-president of the EADTU (European Association of Distant
Teaching Universities) was already sounding the alarm:
'The
sum of money that Europe is going to spend on "lifelong
learning" is a windfall that French universities would
do well to preoccupy themselves with, and in doing so produce,
as an end-product, courses of "industrial" quality
with a learning environment which is inevitably not the one
at present found in our institutes of higher education.'
(1998:
p.39)
In
some universities, hastily prepared distance education programmes
have nonetheless been announced, but bear little relationship
to the true concept of distance education:
'Setting
up a digital campus and distance training often comes down to
just "putting online" the content of face-to-face
lectures '.
(Demaizière,
2003a: website)
Furthermore,
central government has for too long contented itself with offering
universities extensive IT hardware - throughout the 90s, and still
persists in doing so - while the genuine need at the grass roots
level is for training and in-house communication to aid staff
and technicians in adopting new technology. The emphasis clearly
needs to be the creation of a 'service' ethos within universities:
'Working
towards the concept of a service is required rather than concentrating
on facilities.'
(Demaizière,
2003b: website)
Other
reasons for the lack of interest in IT and in distance education
have stemmed from workloads that afforded little room for staff
to update their skills:
'…the
staff concerned feeling relatively uninvolved, due in particular
to the absence of any statutory recognition of the significant
amount of time required of teacher-researchers when they participate
in multimedia productions (or else the lack of interest many
of them show for the introduction of technology into their teaching)
and a lack of training for many university engineers and technicians.'
(Glikman,
2002: p.94)
On
another level, the drive towards open learning with unconstrained
access to university education, along the lines of that offered
by the Open University in the United Kingdom, has been equally
slow and meagre. The VAE system, Validation des acquis de
l'expérience, (Validation of work experience), destined
to provide people with justifiable fast-track access to higher
education diplomas, remains greatly discouraging for many people:
'The
idea is gaining ground that experience in a trade is as valid
as qualifications obtained at school or in higher education.
But the procedures for validating vocational achievements, brought
in by the 1985 and 1993 Acts, still come up against serious
obstacles. In 1998, only 12,000 people managed to validate the
achievements of their experience.'
(French
Embassy, UK, 2002: website)
Facing
the music?
Summing up, it would appear then that it is the overriding market
concept of higher education that manifestly awakens panic in many
French university spheres:
'Commercial
logic demands […] that one bows de facto to the existing
standard, that is to say the Anglo-Saxon model for the organisation
of teaching and diplomas, which currently leads the way in the
international trade in education… […] Pure economic
interests thus become a fundamental element in the reworking
of our educational system.'
(Del
Buono, L. et al., 2003: p.21)
Yet
can one ignore the figures? Statistics for 2000-2001, in this
graph taken from a survey published by the Dutch Ministry of Education,
Culture and Science, show a humbling record for France in the
field of lifelong learning, for example: scarcely 3% of the population,
a figure even lower than the overall European average of 8%.
(© Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science)
TOWARDS
A BRIGHTER FUTURE?
Tradition and negative past experience may well explain the overall
gloomy picture of distance education in French universities that
so far emerges:
'Unlike
the UK, in Germany and France there has been no strong tradition
of distance learning, nor positive experiences of computer-based
learning (Massy, 2001). Moreover, the data on dissatisfaction
with current eLearning provision in Germany and France may reflect
a cultural antipathy to such forms of learning that makes future
adoption less likely.'
(Martin
& Jennings, 2002: p. 41)
There
is nonetheless light at the end of the tunnel, it seems.
The
'Digital Campuses' project
In much the same way as in 1968 the Labour government's vigorous
initiative in Britain produced the Open University, so France's
socialist government in 2001 gave a vital, top-down and long-awaited
impetus to university-based distance education with the implementation
of the 'Digital Campuses' project (Campus numériques).
The vocation of these campuses was made clear in the words of
Jack Lang, the minister for education at the time:
'To
ensure the modernisation of the higher education public service
by maintaining its level of excellence and by developing partnerships
between universities and partnerships at an international level.'
(Lang,
2001: French National Education website)
The
scope of the project is wide and pragmatic:
'…to
successfully construct a range of flexible training programmes,
including both initial training and continuing education […]
available in versions ranging from traditional classroom situations
enriched by the use of ICT, to programmes that rely entirely
on distance learning techniques, depending on the course of
study and the needs and objectives of students.'
(Educnet,
nd: website)
Unlike
the Open University, however, the 'Digital Campuses' project does
not involve the creation of new institutions, but aims to bring
together existing institutions:
'…
a cooperative effort comprised of French higher educational
institutions (nearly 200 are involved in this programme), foreign
higher educational institutions (with 38 partnerships) and above
all, the private sector (including 178 partnerships with associations
or businesses).'
(Educnet,
nd: website)
By
opening up institutions in this way - chipping away at their isolation,
both geographically and ideologically - the project seems to be
working. Forty-five of these consortia were already in the starting-block
in 2001, with ten major distance programmes accessible for the
2001-2002 academic year (French National Education report on Digital
Campuses, 2001).
And now, another inspired move: the gradual erosion of France's
historic tendency to centralise everything, not least, education,
with the creation of nine 'Regional Digital Universities' (Universités
numériques en région).
France's
Regional Digital Universities
| ACO:
Aquitaine Campus Ouvert |
Centred
on Bordeaux, in the south-western region of France |
| ANCOLY:
Animation du Campus Ouvert de Lyon |
Centred
on Lyon and Saint-Etienne, in the south-east |
| CNB:
Campus Numérique de Bretagne |
Brittany
region, in the north-west of France |
| GRECO:
Grenoble Campus Ouvert |
South-east
of France, at the foot of the Alps |
| LUNO:
Lorraine Université Ouverte |
Eastern
France, bordering on Germany |
| TOCO:
Toulouse Campus Ouvert |
Situated
in south-western France, bordering on the Pyrenees |
| UNS:
Université Numérique de Strasbourg |
North-eastern
region of France |
| UO-MLR:
Université Ouverte Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon |
Central
southern France |
| UVPL:
Université Virtuelle des Pays de la Loire |
Western
region of France, stretching out towards the Atlantic |
The
aim of the project is to prompt the creation of a consortium of
institutions at a regional level wherever this is possible:
'…to
encourage establishments to pool their efforts in order to offer
online services to the entire body of students and personnel.'
(Educnet,
2003)
The
Regional Digital Universities initiative is – as we write
- forging inter-university relationships at a regional level and
cementing projects between two, or three, or sometimes four local
institutions, who would not, under previous circumstances, have
collaborated.
If, however, the above list shows the strength of initiative in
many regions, one is compelled to note the absence of projects
in the north of France, in the south-east and, more spectacularly,
in the Parisian region. Paris's prestigious universities have
of late been conspicuous by their absence in many recent developments
of this nature.
A guarded optimism is perhaps appropriate with regard to the existing
projects. It is too early as yet to measure the long-term success
of these ventures; some of them having only come into being over
the past two or three years. Demaizière, following the
2003 Montpellier symposium on distance education in French universities
cautiously comments:
'…one
cannot but notice the fragile or embryonic nature of certain
projects, i.e. few permanent staff; a great deal of voluntary
work; projects relying on retired workers offering their services
for free; the risk - as previously mentioned - of distance training
restricted to an audience of adults involved in lifelong learning.
The fully mature stage has yet to be reached at which university
practices and structures wholeheartedly embrace [distance education].
Here, as before, only time will tell what will result from these
projects.'
(2003c:
website)
Up
and running
A year on from Demaizière's remarks – in September
2004 – and a visit to each Regional Digital University's
website reveals pleasant surprises. There is, in several cases,
good, intuitive, user-friendly access to online catalogues of
distance courses. One quickly finds one's way around the courses
on offer. The Université Virtuelle des Pays de la Loire,
the Lorraine Université Ouverte, the Université
Numérique de Strasbourg are particularly impressive. Furthermore,
with an aim to enabling prospective learners to visualise the
environment they will be using, some - The Lorraine Université
Ouverte site, for example - offer extensive demonstrations of
how courses work and what is expected of learners (See link to
Lorraine Université Ouverte demo pages in References below).
Perusing the various universities' web pages, one cannot but feel
that we are – at last! – on the brink of a profound
and lasting transformation in the delivery and support of university-level
education in France. So why has it taken so long?
Distance education in French universities should – one cannot
help thinking – have been embraced long ago. By its very
nature, distance education should appeal to the highly transmissive
concept of education that abounds in France (cf. the popularity
of the CNED). Distance education notoriously allows – in
its simplest forms – the processing and 'packaging' of knowledge,
enabling the learner access to self-manageable chunks of knowledge.
So why – one wonders – has there been such a history
of suspicion, of reticence and of delay in its implementation
in French university circles?
To answer this last question, can one evoke the true geographical
isolation that many universities have suffered from in this vast
country? To some extent, yes. But it has been – and maybe
still is in some cases – the halting interaction with society
at large, and notably with industry and commerce, that has immured
university institutions for so long.
Change appears to be on the way with the arrival of a new generation
of university staff in their 30s and 40s, familiar with computer
technology and online learning. The older staff, in the 50 to
65 age-range, hierarchically superior and in many cases the chief
decision-makers, are gradually reaching retirement. One may suppose
that it was this population that had to bear the brunt in the
late 80s and 90s of the IT revolution and the sea-change in communication
that the Internet and e-mail represented at that time. And who
– apparently – in many cases resisted or ignored it.
To conclude, our fingers itch to turn the page and assess the
present and future situation in positive terms. Progress –
it has to be admitted though – will probably be slow. But
France will, we hope, astound us with its universities as it has
done in other fields, when suddenly it realises it has fallen
behind, then reacts and forges ahead. Examples abound: its telephone
system, its motorways, its architecture, its world-famous TGV
hi-speed train. And now, its digital universities?
*
* * * * * *
REFERENCES
BBC
Online News (2000): Culture affects learning strategies,
14 February 2000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/642501.stm
Broadfoot
et al., (2000) Promoting Quality in Learning. Does England
Have the Answer?, Cassell, London
CIA
(2004)
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fr.html
Chambers,
J T, CEO, Cisco Systems (1999): quoted in Thomas L. Friedman,
Foreign Affairs: Next, It's E-ducation, N.Y. Times, Nov.
17, 1999, at Section A page 29
http://www.law.duke.edu/fac/danner/paper5.html
CNED yearly report (2003)
http://www.cned.fr/Etablissement/lecned/rapport/rapport2003.pdf
Del
Buono, L et al (2003): Livre noir sur les universités
françaises
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/daest/dptse33/documents/RESLivrenoirV2.1.pdf
Original quote in French: 'La logique commerciale exige […]
de se plier au standard existant de facto : le modèle d’organisation
de l’enseignement et des diplômes anglo-saxon, actuellement
"leader" dans le commerce international de l’éducation…
[…] Le pur intérêt économique devient
ainsi un élément fondamental du remodelage de notre
système d’éducation.'
Demaizière,
F (2003): Summary of the Symposium "Campus numériques
et universités numériques en région",
Montpellier, October 2003
http://www.sigu7.jussieu.fr/AEM/cr_montpellier.htm
a) Original quote in French: 'Monter un campus numérique,
faire de la formation à distance semble souvent revenir
à "mettre en ligne" un cours magistral.'
b) Original quote in French: 'Il convient de créer
une dynamique de service plutôt que de se focaliser sur
les équipements.'
c) Original quote in French: '…on ne peut que remarquer
le caractère embryonnaire ou fragile de certains projets
: peu de personnels titulaires, beaucoup de bénévolat,
des projets appuyés sur des retraités bénévoles,
risque mentionné de cantonner la FAD au public de formation
continue. On n'a pas encore atteint le stade de la maturité
et de la pleine intégration dans les pratiques et les structures
universitaires. Ici encore seul l'avenir dira ce qui sortira de
ces projets.'
Downes,
M & Janes, T (2003): Education as a commodity –
Valuing students as Customers, abstract, ATEM-AAPPA Tertiary
Education Management Conference, Adelaide, 2003
http://www.tefma.com/infoservices/papers/2003_ATEM_AAPPA_Conf/Downes_M&Janes_T.pdf
Dutch
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, 2004
http://www.minocw.nl/english/figures2003/026.html
Educnet
(nd)
http://www.educnet.education.fr/eng/superieur/campus.htm
Educnet
(2003)
http://www.educnet.education.fr/superieur/uninumfaq.htm
Original quote in French: '…inciter les établissements
à mutualiser leurs efforts pour offrir à l’ensemble
des étudiants et personnels des services en ligne.'
Eurostat
(2003)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/Public/datashop/print-product/EN?catalogue=Eurostat
&product=3-01102003-EN-AP-EN&mode=download (link now broken)
French
Embassy website, UK
http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/asp/service.asp?SERVID=100&LNG=en&PAGID=225
French
National Education (Education Nationale) report on 'Digital Campuses':
http://www.education.gouv.fr/discours/2001/campus4.htm
French
National Education (Education Nationale) statistics :
ftp://trf.education.gouv.fr/pub/edutel/dpd/gchiffres_e2003/g1.pdf
http://www.education.gouv.fr/stateval/grands_chiffres/gchif_e.htm
Glikman,
V (2002): Des cours par correspondance au "e-learning",
Presses Universitaires de France, Paris
Original quote in French: '…une implication très
relative des personnels concernés, due notamment à
l'absence de reconnaissance statutaire du temps important qu'exige
la participation à la production de multimédias
pour les enseignants-chercheurs (sinon au manque d'intérêt
de beaucoup d'entre eux pour l"introduction des technologies
dans leurs enseignements) et à un manque de formation de
beaucoup des ingénieurs et techniciens universitaires.'
Lang,
J, Minister for Education (2001): Rentrée Universitaire
2001, transcript of official speech
http://www.education.gouv.fr/discours/2001/sup2001/discours.htm#0
Original quote in French: 'Assurer la modernisation du service
public d’enseignement supérieur en maintenant son
niveau d’excellence et en développant des partenariats
entre universités et à l'international.'
Lorraine
Université Ouverte demo pages:
http://www.cyber.uhp-nancy.fr/demos/MAIN-005/general/index.html
Martin,
G & Jennings, A (2002): The Adoption, Diffusion and Exploitation
of eLearning in Europe - An Overview and Analysis of the UK, Germany
and France, Scottish Enterprise Research Report, Dundee Business
School, University of Abertay, Dundee
http://www.elearningalliance.org/uploads/attachments/The
Adoption, Diffusion and Exploitation of eLearning in Europe.pdf
Massy,
J (2001): ELearning and training in Europe: A survey into
the use of e-learning in training and professional development
in the European Union, CEDAFOP
Steiner,
G (1997): Desert Island Discs, BBC Radio 4
UNESCO
http://www.uis.unesco.org/countryprofiles/html/EN/countryProfile_en.aspx?code=2500.htm
Vauthier,
J (1998): Les universités françaises s'ouvrent
à la virtualité, article from Le Monde de L'Education
– hors série Apprendre à distance, September
1998, Paris
Original quote in French: 'La masse d'argent que l'Europe
va dépenser pour l'éducation tout au long de la
vie est une manne dont les universités françaises
feraient bien de se soucier, mais avec à la clé
des cours de qualité industrielle avec un environnement
pédagogique qui n'est pas nécessairement celui que
l'on trouve actuellement dans nos établissements d'enseignement
supérieur…'
REGIONAL DIGITAL UNIVERSITES IN FRANCE
ACO: Aquitaine Campus Ouvert
http://www.aquitaine-campus.net
ANCOLY:
Animation du Campus Ouvert de Lyon
http://www.ancoly.net/
CNB:
Campus Numérique de Bretagne
http://nte.univ-rennes1.fr/cnb/
GRECO:
Campus ouvert de l’académie de Grenoble
http://askonce.grenet.fr/webgreco/
LUNO:
Lorraine Université Ouverte
http://www.luno-edu.net/
TOCO:
Toulouse
no website at present available
UNS:
Université Numérique de Strasbourg
http://uns.u-strasbg.fr/
UO-MLR:
Université Ouverte Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon
http://www.uomlr.agropolis.fr/
UVPL:
Université Virtuelle des Pays de la Loire
http://www.uvpl.org/
*
* * * * * *
My
warmest thanks to Lya Visser for inviting me to write this
article and for her help in overseeing my work prior to
publishing.
This
article appeared in the fall 2005 edition of The Quarterly
Review of Distance Education, a publication of the Association
for Educational Communications and Technology: http://www.aect.org/Intranet/Publications/QRDE/subguides.html
*
* * * * * *
Retour
haut de page
elearning.france@gmail.com
