Contested Autonomies: The Reform of French University Governance and Its Discontents

In the past decade, the governance of French universities has seen substantial changes in line with developments elsewhere in Europe. Engaging in an “autonomy/accountability two-step,” French universities have been granted a significantly higher degree of organizational autonomy while at the same time becoming subject to a widening set of external accountability measures. The French case nonetheless stands out for the intensity of the opposition that (initially) greeted these developments. A 2003 draft law on university modernization was ultimately withdrawn by the government in the face of concerted opposition. The subsequent adoption in 2007 of the Law on the Liberty and Responsibility of Universities, which effected major changes in internal institutional governance, was greeted by prolonged waves of student and faculty protests. The first part of the paper will probe these movements of contestation, particularly addressing the question of why a gain in formal institutional autonomy was opposed by key actors who saw it as destabilizing established student and faculty interests, national discipline-based networks (particularly through changes in recruitment practices) and a wider conception of the university as a ‘public service’. The second part of the paper will then carry the narrative forward. It will first examine the comparative quiescence that surrounded the adoption of a 2013 reform law, and then turn to the prospects for further reforms (particularly in the direction of greater fiscal and curricular autonomy) under the Macron presidency.