Bocharova O. Modernization of the system of higher education in contemporary France

The dissertation reveals the social and cultural prerequisites for the current reformation of the system of higher education in France; it considers the main theoretical concepts underlying the educational system reforms, specifies the modern types of institutions of higher learning, as well as discloses the reasons for educational system modernization and the ways of its further development in its interaction with vitally important aspects of French society. The work exposes the new trends and the main directions of the reforms determined by the social, economic, political and cultural changes in the country. The research analysis explores to what extent French higher educational system meets the social demand for higher-qualification specialists and the social requirement of high-quality education. Based on the statistics on the higher educational system of the country, the study characterizes the structural changes within the reforms and thoroughly analyzes the reorganizations (the end of the 1960s- the beginning of the 2004). This is stipulated by the fact that this time-span initiated and reflected the higher school global changes. The latter developed in the decades that followed. These changes include educational system democratization, autonomy and professional efficiency orientation. The research discloses the trends of the higher educational system development in France in the context of the European Union, as well as the role of the system in establishing a 'common European space' in the sphere of higher education