SHARE
COPY LINK

UNIVERSITY

France trails US and UK in university rankings

A French minister has defended the quality of its universities after France found itself with just four institutions among the world’s top 100, according to annual rankings released this week. Genevieve Fioraso claimed the rankings favoured anglo-saxon universities.

France trails US and UK in university rankings

As US institutions like Harvard and Stanford continue to dominate global rankings, the best that French higher education could muster this year is the 37th place ranking of Pierre and Marie Curie University – Paris 6, a part of the Sorbonne University of Paris.

For the second year running, just 20 French universities featured in the top 500 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) or the “Shanghai Ranking” compiled by Jiao Tong University.

That leaves France trailing well behind the US, which once again dominates the list with 17 of the top 20, the UK, with 37 institutions in the top 500, and near-neighbours Germany, which has 38.

Although Switzerland and Australia have fewer universities on the list, they have more in both the top 20 and top 100, and so are listed higher than their French counterparts by the organisers of the rankings.

This year’s French total, however, does represent a slight improvement on 2012, when just three universities were included in the top 100.

France's Minister for Higher Education Geneviève Fioraso claims the rankings do not tell the full story because the criteria favoured Anglo-saxon institutions.

“I am delighted with the progress of French universities,” she said in French daily Le Figaro.

“Although, unlike the previous government, climbing these kinds of rankings isn’t our objective, because they don’t take into account our level of research,” she added.

Fioraso also noted that the rankings focussed on research universities but did not take into account research carried out at organisations such as France's National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), which is"the first in the world for scientific publications".

Le Figaro itself suggested that French institutions suffered from the ranking's bias towards the hard sciences like physics, chemistry and biology. 

“The Shanghai rankings privilege research in exact sciences, to the detriment of teaching human and social sciences,” claimed Caroline Beyer on Thursday.

That theory, however, is belied by the fact that when it comes to social sciences specifically, not a single French university is included in the ARWU’s top 200.

In this year's rankings Pierre and Marie Curie University (37) replaces Paris-Sud (39) as the top-ranked Gallic institution, and is joined by the prestigious Ecole Normale Supériore (71) in the capital, and the University of Strasbourg (97).

SEE ALSO: Studying in France – What you need to know

While France makes no appearance, there are seven Dutch and Swiss institutions in the top 100 for social sciences.

This week’s rankings are only the latest to paint a grim picture of French higher education’s global standing.

In March, The Local reported how not a single French university made it into the top 50 of The Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings.

“It’s a bit of a blow to national pride," Philip Baty, editor of the rankings told The Local at the time.

“There is work to be done: having high-profile, well-regarded institutions recognized by scholars as being among the world’s best is vital for the future success of France’s higher education system and knowledge economy,” Baty added.

“There are some language issues. French academics are not publishing work in English the way universities in say Germany or Asia do,” he said.

The provision of English-language courses at university level has been a highly contentious issue in France of late.

A plan to offer more courses in English provoked vehement opposition, before being passed in the National Assembly by French MPs in May.

"A people that speaks a foreign language more and more loses its identity piece by piece," UMP lawmaker Jacques Myard said during a debate on the bill.

To see the ARWU's Top 500 for 2013 and previous years, follow this link.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

RESEARCH

ANALYSIS: Why are Denmark’s politicians criticising university researchers?

The Danish parliament has recently adopted a controversial text asking universities to ensure that "politics is not disguised as science". The Local's contributor Sophie Standen examines why Denmark's politicians are criticising university researchers.

ANALYSIS: Why are Denmark's politicians criticising university researchers?
Populist politicians have singled out courses at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) for following a so-called 'woke' agenda. Photo: Bjarke MacCarthy/CBS

What has happened? 

On the 1st of June, a majority in the Danish parliament adopted a written declaration that aimed to combat ‘excessive activism in certain humanities and social science research environments’.

The initial debate was led by Morten Messerschmidt from the Danish People’s Party (DF) and Henrik Dahl from Liberal Alliance (LA). The declaration was then voted through, with all of the major parties in favour, including the governing Social Democratic party.

What does the controversial declaration say? 

The declaration stated that the Danish parliament expects that university managements will ensure the self-regulation of scientific research, so that ‘politics is not disguised as science’.

However, it also asserted that Danish parliament has no right to determine the method or topic of research in Danish universities, and stressed the importance of free and critical debate in the research community.

Who is upset by it? 

The adoption of this position by Danish parliament has proven extremely controversial for many academics and researchers, with over 3,200 Danish and international researchers signing an open letter denouncing the stance adopted by the Danish government.

The authors of the letter stated that ‘academic freedom is under increasing attack’, and described the developments as ‘highly troubling’.

Furthermore, in another open letter to the Minister for Higher Education and Science, Ane Halsboe-Jørgensen, published in the Politiken newspaper, 262 Danish university researchers complained that they were facing increasing occurrences of personal intimidation and harassment due their research.

What is concerning university researchers and professors? 

Professor Lisa Ann Richey, a professor at Copenhagen Business School, told The Local that the parliament’s move was “illiberal” as “it doesn’t support freedom”. 

Richey, who has been a professor in Denmark for more than 20 years, was one of co-organisers of the open letter, and a co-signatory of the letter published in Politiken.

“I am one of the international recruits who finds the Danish research environment a great place to work,” she said. “We have a strong university system and good research environments. One of the things we are risking here is that reputation, and also the possibility of recruiting internationally.”

She said that in her opinion, academia in Denmark was self-policing due to the exhaustive peer-review process and oversight by university authorities. 

“There are lots of checks and balances within academia, and sometimes it doesn’t seem like that because they [the politicians] have no idea how many evaluations we go through,” she said. “We have peer reviews, student reviews, and university assessments to ensure quality in research.” 

Is there a populist campaign behind the statement? 

Richey complained that long before the parliamentary statement, prominent populist politicians “came out on social media calling out particular courses”. 

“They did this to a course I taught in, saying now even CBS has become part of this ‘woke agenda’,” she complained. “This statement about politics dressed up as science, it’s meant to intimidate. We need university leadership to support us and we need everyone to recognise that this is a threat towards academic freedom and also to make sure that we don’t expose individuals”

Anders Bjarklev, the rector of the Danish Technical University (DTU), and president of the rector’s college for Danish universities, echoed this sentiment. Writing on social media, he has called the position adopted by parliament, ‘an attack on research freedom’. 

“When subjects are singled out by politicians, such as gender studies or post-colonial studies, then academics get worried because much of our funding is from the government,” he told The Local. 

“I am also worried that academics will be scared to take part or publish research in these subjects”.  As rector of DTU, he says he is “not sure what we could do differently”, as academics at the university “always want to ensure the highest quality standard of research”.

What has the government said to defend itself? 

In an interview with the Politiken newspaper, Bjørn Brandenborg, the Social Democrat’s spokesperson for higher education and science, insisted that despite the statement, there was “no general distrust of universities” on the part of the government. 

“The Danish parliament has a right, like all other citizens, to have an opinion on research results”, he continued, while stressing that “the Danish parliament will not become involved in decisions over what is researched in Danish universities”.

In his view, he said, the text voted on by the parliament was “completely unproblematic”, as  “all it says is that universities should take responsibility for the quality of their research”.

This adopted stance by the Danish government has shaken the arms-length principle of trust between Danish research institutions and the Danish government. Many have denounced the politicians who have singled out specific researchers on social media as examples of political activism within research in Denmark.

In a statement to Politiken, the minister responsible for Higher Education and Science in Denmark, Ane Halsboe-Jørgenson, remarked that the 3,241 researchers that had signed the open letter had “reached the wrong conclusion” about the adopted declaration.

She insisted that the Danish government is “fighting for research freedom”, while also remarking that she thinks “we politicians must stay far away from judging individuals and individual research areas”.

What will happen next? 

For Professor Lisa Ann Richey, “now, when major political parties are part of this, making a ‘non-problem’ a problem, then it’s really time that we [academics] have to respond.”

“Our work is important and it is not acceptable behaviour to try and bully individual researchers and to police research environments,” she continued. “This is something that will be moving forward now that universities have spoken out officially”. 

SHOW COMMENTS