Beihang Sino-French Engineer School： a new path for training Chinese elites.pdf

Sea~h．“． 。 BeihangSino-FrenchEngineerSchool： anewpathfortrainingChineseelites By Jean Dorey TheFrenchHigherEducationsystem TheFrenchhighereducationsystem ， forhistoricalreasons，iscomposedof twokindsofinstitutions：aniversities， which w elcomeover90％ ofthe students，and so—called grandes 6coleswhichattractmostofthebest students．In mostdisciplines，access totheuniversitiesiseasy，sincethe onlyrequirementistoobtainamark atleastequalto 10outof20atthe examinationwhich takesplaceatthe endofthesecondarycycle．Around 85％ ofthestudentssucceed．There isnorankingand any successful studentCanapplyanyuniversity；and thereofremostFrench studentsstart theirhighereducation curriculum intheuniversity located in their hometown．Butthebeststudentsare generallyattractedbythegrandes 6coleswhichhaveverydistinctivecharacteristics：smallsize， internships(studentshavealmostnosummerholidays)．At generallyunder1500students，highlyselectiveaccesstothese theendofthecurriculum ，studentsgetgraduateengineer institutions，excellentprofessorsattractedby each ofthese diplomas，whichalsograntsthem Mastersdegrees．Ifthey institutions，andgoodpositionsensuredtothosegraduates desiretodoso，theycancontinuetowardsaPh．D． whoearndiplomas；meanwhilemostofthesegrandes4coles arededicatedtoengineeringorbusinessstudies． Intheeighties，manytoprankinggrandes6colesunderstood thattheirfuturewaslinkedtotheirinternationalreputation Asfarasengineeringisconcerned，themostprestigiousones andstarteddevelopingcooperations，insideEuropeofcourse havethesamerecruitmentprocess：aftercompletingtheir butalsowithnon—european institutions，firstintheUnited secondary studies，motivatedstudentsenterspecialclasses States，Canada，Japan，the