There are two alternative structures available: correspondence courses and
alternance(alternating
periods of coursework with employment). This second option was designed
for unqualified youths who had left the school system.
A) Long-distance education
The
national centre for long-distance education (CNED), which comes under
the authority of the Ministry of National Education, offers teaching
and training courses by correspondence in all fields and at all levels
(university degrees, business training, accounting classes, etc.). The
CNED takes advantage of new information and communication technologies
(TIC), but also uses traditional long-distance techniques. It also
offers seminars and meetings between students and teachers for certain
programmes that require a higher degree of professional qualification.
The CNED has created a programme called " campus électronique" (electronic
campus), which gives users access to all of the same services available
on a real campus: reception, records, evaluation, teaching programmes,
library, resource centre.
It also offers special prep courses for the recruitment
tests for all categories of teachers and administrative personnel for
the national education system. Based on conventions with other ministry
divisions, it also has prep courses for tests for recruitment to their
major administrative departments.
Higher education is being significantly impacted by the changeover to the
LMD
(licence, master’s degree, doctorate) system. The CNED is participating
fully in this process and is working with over 60 universities and
institutions to put the system into action. 35,000 students pursue
long-distance higher education each year.
The number of students registered for the BTS has been decreasing regularly for several years now. This is due in part to the priority given to level Licence (
baccalauréat+3 years).
The CNED’s selection of university courses is currently being updated to render it more consistent with the new system.
Higher
education is also impacted by certain national projects aimed at
modernising universities by integrating information and communication
technologies at the regional level, through the creation of digital
regional universities (UNR), and at the national level through the
creation of digital thematic universities (UNT) and the French-speaking
legal digital thematic university (UNJF). Lastly, in 2000 the Ministry
of National Education launched a call for project bids for the creation
of university consortiums for the purpose of developing digital
campuses. Since then, the CNED has participated in the projects to
modernise higher education through the use of information and
communication technologies. It participates in several digital campuses
and thematic digital university projects, such as the Forse and Canège
campuses, which is developing into a UNT, and runs the Campus Cultura.
B) Alternating education
Alternating
education enables 16 to 25 year-olds to sign a work contract
alternating training between the company and the apprenticeship
training centre (C.F.A.). Alternating students constantly combine the
theoretical approach of school with the practices of the professional
world. Moreover, it results in a qualification while being remunerated
and benefiting from the social benefits associated with a salary
(social security, unemployment benefit, holiday pay etc.). Once the
qualification has been obtained, the professional experience acquired
is a major asset with employers. The apprenticeship contract is a
fixed-term work contract between a young person and a host company for
a duration of 12 to 36 months depending on the qualification sought.
The young person benefits from a salaried status, the support of an
apprenticeship supervisor throughout their curriculum and remuneration
set as a percentage of the minimum inter-professional wage (SMIC, equal
to 1,280.07 Euros/month, is the monthly wage below which it is
forbidden to remunerate an employee, in the public or private sector,
regardless of the type of remuneration).
In addition, the
occupational training contract, which has replaced the qualification
contract since November 2004, is aimed at all 16 to 25 year-olds (age
as of last birthday) and persons over 26 seeking employment. Its
objective is to allow them to acquire a professional qualification and
promote their professional integration or rehabilitation. The
occupational training contract is a fixed-term or full-time alternating
work contract including occupational training. In all cases, it must be
made in writing.
When it is a fixed-term contract, its duration
is that of the occupational training envisaged. It can be renewed once
if the beneficiary of the contract was unable to obtain the
qualification envisaged due to:
failure in the tests evaluating the curriculum taken;
maternity, illness, industrial accident;
a fault of the training institution.
When the fixed-term contract expires, no severance pay is due.
C) Lifelong university education
Lifelong
university education is provided by institutions of higher education
(universities, engineering institutes, CNAM, etc.). It is governed by a
legal framework that has ushered in significant developments since the
Law of 1971. Universities have been pioneers in validating professional
skills. They have been providing access to professional training since
1985 and have issued partial degrees since 1993. The social
modernisation law of 18 January 2002 took this a step further by
allowing for an entire degree to be earned by having professional
experiences validated, including volunteer, social and unpaid work.
The institutions proposed three types of training programmes:
Short traineeships for companies and administrations;
Long traineeships that can lead to the delivery of university degrees;
Programmes
leading to national degrees, particularly professionally-oriented,
degrees and certificates registered with the national professional
certifications registry: DUT, DEUST, licences,
licences professionnelles,
maîtrises, engineering certificates, etc.
The programmes can be organised in different ways:
Organisation specifically designed for students in continuing education (full or part-time traineeships),
Organisation
of continuing education courses for people who are working (evening
courses, full-day or half-day courses, correspondence courses, etc.),
Admission of continuing education students into initial education groups.
Universities
are also starting to organise their continuing education programmes
into modules and using the credit capitalisation system.
In
addition, information and communication technologies are creating new
possibilities for continuing education. The link between long-distance
education and on-site education will help meet the needs of a variety
of prospective students, and especially those who have only a limited
amount of time they can devote to their studies (family obligations,
late working hours, part-time work, distance from the university,
handicap, etc.).
Institution:
The National Centre for Distance Learning CNED-BP60200 86980 FUTUROSCOPE CEDEX-FRANCE Tel.:(33) 05 49 49 94 94 Website:http://www.cned.fr
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