DEBRENNE MICHÈLE

This research is carried out within the framework of comparative sociological and psycholinguistic research of motives of choosing a University and a city for studying among French and Russian applicants. The article examines the factors influencing this choice, namely: the French legislation that provides all applicants with the right to higher education, the increasing number of school children completing their education with the ‘baccalaureat' diploma, the difference in terms of admission to universities and Grandes Ecoles, different on-line platforms, allowing to select a university, dormitories or other living facilities. The article is mainly based on data from French statistical studies and recent press. The analysis of online platforms «Admission post Bac» and «Parcours plus» showed a number of contradictory factors with which French higher education is facing. Thus, the need to give each applicant the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right for higher education conflicts with the need to reduce drop-out rates and improve academic performance among first year students; in spite of the increased number of schoolchildren successfully finishing school, the funding of higher education per student is constantly decreasing; it is physically impossible to accept all comers for training programs in demanded specialties, and the desire of applicants to study in large cities is broken about the lack of dormitories in them. Finally, public rejection of any selection coexists with the rating of schools and lyceums and the elitism of the system of higher schools. All these factors should be taken into account when compiling questionnaires for French students. Acknowledgment: The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research within the framework of the scientific project No. 18-510-22001.

He review gives an idea of the main points of the recently published analytical report ‘Russia and France in the world educational space'. This work was presented to the public during the Gaidar forum, it continued the series of publications implemented by the team of the Russian-French Center for Education and Consulting, established in the Institute of Public Administration and Civil Service of The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in 2013. It is underlined that the cooperation of our countries in this sphere is extremely important in the historical perspective of a new turn of relations between Russia and France, when dialogue on all levels of society is intensified. Particular attention is paid to such problems as the globalization of higher education, which captures new countries, and its consequence - educational migration. The analytical report identifies factors that contribute to the influx of foreign students into universities. The review also provides insight into specific projects in the sphere of Russian-French educational and scientific cooperation.