2. French Universities

1. 2.1. Admission
   2.2. Qualifications

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2.2. French University Qualifications

There are a wide variety of higher education qualifications and, for the uninitiated, the picture is a very confusing one.

Nevertheless, the situation is improving, as a result of agreement at a European level for greater mobility and transparency in higher education across the EU.

Broadly speaking, it is possible to distinguish between short term studies of two years duration, and more traditional higher education qualification of three or more year’s duration.

2.2.1. Short Term Studies

Universities and the Instituts universitaires professionnalisés (IUT) attached to them offer two year vocationally based courses, following which students can enter employment in their specialist field or continue their studies thanks to the pretty flexible system of ‘parallel admissions’. This system allows for example a student with a DUT to enter a course to get a Licence, without having done the first two years. This is sometimes possible only through an application to explain your motivations and check your academic level.



The main qualifications which are awarded are the Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie (DUT) and the Diplôme d’Edudes Universitaires Scientifiques et Techniques (DEUST).

To this list of short courses we should also add two higher education courses offered through the lycées, the Brevet de Technicien Superieur and the Classes Préparatoires aux Grandes Ecoles (CPGE), both of which are considered in more detail later.

2.2.2. Long Term Studies

Whilst university studies in the UK are categorised as either undergraduate or postgraduate, in France courses are divided into three ‘cycles’ in an attempt to reflect the continuous nature of education and the linkages between the different stages.

The three cycles lead to three levels of qualification often referred to as the LMD – Licence, Master and Doctorat, which correspond to the internationally recognised structure of higher education qualification – bachelor, masters, and PhD system of qualification.



Students can obviously choose to stop after the Licence or Master’s degree, very few choose to do a Doctorate. As studies are now broken down into semesters and in teaching units (Unités d'Enseignement), referring to a year is useless.


The teaching units match the various subjects being taught. They can be made up of different subjects and are broken down into major, minor and free UE. Only health studies follow a special scheme, due to their length and to the number of students.

1. i. Cycle 1

The first cycle of three years (or bac+3) is a broad foundation course leading to the Licence. The old Diplôme d'études universitaires générales (DEUG) corresponded in fact to the first two years of this Licence.

Students can elect to choose from one of three main streams - literature and arts, political and economic science, or science.

Within these main streams, many different diplomas are offered. Science faculties can train engineers, literature faculties can train linguists for instance.

The Licence is the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom.

The Licence is the equivalent of an undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom. As an alternative to studying for the general Licence students can study for the Licence Professionnelle, a vocationally based degree, which is often undertaken in collaboration with a Lycée.

1. ii. Cycle 2

The second cycle is more specialist and leads to the award of the Maîtrise (Bac +4) in the fourth year and of the Master (Bac+5) in the fifth year. Many French students elect to continue with five year studies and obtain their Master.

There are also different types of masters degree reflecting the nature of their specialisation and going under the nomenclature of Maîtrise de sciences et techniques (MST), Maîtrise de sciences de gestion (MSG), Maîtrise de méthodes informatiques appliquées à la gestion (MIAGE), and Titre d'ingénieur-maître (TIM).The Master itself can be called Master Professionnel (vocational) or Recherche (research). The latter is ideal for students willing to take a PhD.

Students from abroad can enter directly into the second cycle, but only on condition that they have already undertaken at least three years course of undergraduate study. With the european system, any student that validated 6 semesters in a field is allowed to enter a French Master’s Degree BUT many universities now organize selective entrance to the Master, either in first fourth year or in fifth.

1. iii. Cycle 3

The third cycle courses in the sixth year onwards are akin to PhD research studies with a range of different qualifications ultimately leading to a doctorate.

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