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STUDYING IN FRANCE

EDUCATION

Two French universities make it into ‘top 100’

Only two French universities made it into the latest top 100 ranking published on Tuesday, in a list dominated by the UK and the US.

Two French universities make it into 'top 100'
Photo of student in Paris: Shutterstock

The Ecole normale supérieure in Paris was ranked as France's top university and came 23rd overall in the QS World University Rankings, rising one place from last year's tables.

The university, which scored well in philosophy and natural sciences, is “widely considered to be the most selective and most challenging institution of higher learning and research in France,” noted QS.
 

The Ecole normale supérieure in Paris. Photo: AFP
 
The university boasts laureates including novelist Jean-Paul Sartre and philosopher Michel Foucault, as well as 12 Nobel Laureates across all fields.
 
Elsewhere in France, the Ecole Polytechnique came in 40th, dropping from 35th last year. 

There were an additional 21 French universities that made the top 500, with the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) at 137th the next highest rated among them.

The ranking is just the latest global table to suggest French universities are struggling as a whole to compete with other countries.

The UK managed four of the top ten alone, and 18 in the top 100. The US could lay claim to four of the top five and 30 in the top 100. Elsewhere in Europe, Germany boasted four in the top 100 and Sweden had two.

The number one university in the world, according to QS, is the United States' MIT, closely followed by Harvard, with Stanford and the United Kingdom's Cambridge claiming a shared third place.

The QS World University Rankings annually rate 800 universities, based on measures including academic reputation, reputation among employers, citations, mentoring and student performance. The full rankings can be viewed here.

While France as a country may not have shone in the ranking, Paris has a stellar reputation when it comes to city by city comparisons. The capital has come out on top in QS rankings for years running when it comes to the world's “best student cities”.

READ ALSO: Studying in France – what you need to know

Studying in France: what you need to know

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EDUCATION

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

Children between ages 6-9 years should be allowed admittance to after-school recreation centers free of charge, according to a report submitted to Sweden’s Minister of Education Lotta Edholm (L).

Inquiry calls for free after-school care for 6-9 year-olds in Sweden

“If this reform is implemented, after-school recreation centers will be accessible to the children who may have the greatest need for the activities,” said Kerstin Andersson, who was appointed to lead a government inquiry into expanding access to after-school recreation by the former Social Democrat government. 

More than half a million primary- and middle-school-aged children spend a large part of their school days and holidays in after-school centres.

But the right to after-school care is not freely available to all children. In most municipalities, it is conditional on the parent’s occupational status of working or studying. Thus, attendance varies and is significantly lower in areas where unemployment is high and family finances weak.

In this context, the previous government formally began to inquire into expanding rights to leisure. The report was recently handed over to Sweden’s education minister, Lotta Edholm, on Monday.

Andersson proposed that after-school activities should be made available free of charge to all children between the ages of six and nine in the same way that preschool has been for children between the ages of three and five. This would mean that children whose parents are unemployed, on parental leave or long-term sick leave will no longer be excluded. 

“The biggest benefit is that after-school recreation centres will be made available to all children,” Andersson said. “Today, participation is highest in areas with very good conditions, while it is lower in sparsely populated areas and in areas with socio-economic challenges.” 

Enforcing this proposal could cause a need for about 10,200 more places in after-school centre, would cost the state just over half a billion kronor a year, and would require more adults to work in after-school centres. 

Andersson recommends recruiting staff more broadly, and not insisting that so many staff are specialised after-school activities teachers, or fritidspedagod

“The Education Act states that qualified teachers are responsible for teaching, but that other staff may participate,” Andersson said. “This is sometimes interpreted as meaning that other staff may be used, but preferably not’. We propose that recognition be given to so-called ‘other staff’, and that they should be given a clear role in the work.”

She suggested that people who have studied in the “children’s teaching and recreational programmes” at gymnasium level,  people who have studied recreational training, and social educators might be used. 

“People trained to work with children can contribute with many different skills. Right now, it might be an uncertain work situation for many who work for a few months while the employer is looking for qualified teachers”, Andersson said. 

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