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Violence is terrible, but French pupils are right to protest
Injustice should always be challenged, says columnist Nabila Ramdani
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Normandy rail strike: five lines disrupted this Friday and Saturday
Ticket inspectors walk out after a knife attack on a colleague, with four unions backing the action
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French lycée pupils plan new national demonstration next week
Education minister begins to outline changes including 3,000 teachers added
University rankings are flawed
This year’s Shanghai Ranking league table for universities shows France lagging behind much of the rest of the world, with just three institutions in the top 100.
However it is partly explained by the fact the system is different in France.
US universities dominate the table, with Harvard coming top, but head of the Conférence des Présidents d’Université, Gilles Roussel, told FranceInfo the judging focused on university research achievements but ignored the preference in France of splitting teaching universities and research groups.
Paris Pierre-et-Marie-Curie university was No40 and Paris-Sud university No41 followed by École Normale Supérieure in Paris at 69. However, Mr Roussel said research groups such as CNRS still attract some of the world’s best doctoral and post-doctoral individuals, who “continue to reach the highest level in many subject areas”.
In France, Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur rankings look at student pass rates, with Angers University top on 58.7%, although this is on figures based on the 2013 intake of students.
