The challenges of adult education in French universities

The 1971 law concerning adult education paved the way for a new approach. It suggested that education should not stop when one starts one's working life, but should continue throughout one's professional career. It added that companies are forced to promote and finance it. In 1984, the Savary Law stated that universities should have the same role in adult education as they have in undergraduate education and research, and that these two elements should therefore organise themselves to incorporate this concept. However, this is not very easy to achieve both for theoretical and practical reasons. Finally, it was recently decided that knowledge gained from professional experience should be recognised in a university programme inorder to encourage adult admissions into certain courses of study, and to exempt such admissions from sitting all or a part of the examinations necessary for the relevant degree. Jacques Denantes explains how universities reacted to this major upheaval.