SETTLING IN - CultureShock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette - page 184

Mission interuniversitaire de coordination des échanges
franco-américains Paris-Ile de France (MICEFA); 26 rue
de Faubourg Saint-Jacques, 75014; tel: [phone];
website:http://www.micefa.org. Facilitates the access of
American students into French universities and organises
academic exchange programmes.
French University Education
All lycée graduates who have passed the stringent baccalauréat
( le bac ) examinations are entitled to admission to a state-run
university ( la fac , short for faculté ). Universities thus tend to
be overcrowded, rigid in their curriculum and impersonal.
The Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT) is a two-year
community college system offering certificates in professional
and technical specialties.
Top lycée students may choose to apply to a business
school or an engineering school, or any other Grande
École . These schools have limited spaces available, for
their graduates ultimately become the French elite—the
most powerful politicians and civil servants, and the most
influential business professionals in France. Among the
most sought-after graduates are those from l'École Nationale
d'Administration (ENA), Ecole Polytechnique (X), Institut
d'Etudes Politiques (IEP or Sciences Po) and Hautes Etudes
Commerciales (HEC).
For business schools, there is a one-year course to prepare
for the entrance exam.This course is so stringent that many
students repeat the year in order to get a better ranking in
the exam and thus to be accepted into a better school. The
programme for the engineering schools is similar, except
that it is a two-year course. Again, some students repeat the
course in order to get into a more prestigious school.
Université de Paris: a conglomerate of some 17 separate
institutions offering degree programmes in particular
specialties; each institution has its specialties. The most
ancient and illustrious, the Sorbonne, founded in 1253, is
now also part of the system and known as Université de
Paris IV (tel: [phone]; fax:[phone]; website:
http://www.sorbonne.fr). For information and addresses