Institutional Bachelor in Sciences and Engineering (BSE) awarded by accredited engineering HEIs
Conferral of the academic grade of “Licence”
In France, national three year degrees at level 6 of the national and European qualifications frameworks are called “Licence”. A 2020 decree describes the general compulsory course outcomes for the academic grades of master and “Licence” conferred to the corresponding national degrees.
In order to diversify their educational offer, some Higher Education Institutions started several years ago to create three year programmes that led to an institutional degree. In order to distinguish the new degrees from the national degree “Licence”, they used the English term of “bachelor” for these new programmes.
In 2020, the ministry in charge of higher education agreed to confer the academic grade of “Licence” to institutional bachelor’s degrees that underwent a successful external evaluation process and entrusted the CTI with the evaluation of institutional Bachelor in Sciences and Engineering (BSE) degrees offered by accredited engineering schools.
The BSE Standards & Criteria and Evaluation Process
The CTI’s 2024 BSE Standards & Criteria, which complement the specifications of the decree, are available in French here. The former (2023) version in English is available here.
The CTI’s 2024 BSE Evaluation Process is available in French here. The former (2023) version in English is available here.
In order to rationalise the official names of degrees and ensure that they are legible over time, as well as being recognised internationally, the CTI specifies the rules for constituting the degree titles for both the engineering degrees and the BSE degrees. Degree titles must be in French; the English version is useful for instance for the European EUR-ACE® label. The list of authorized degree titles in French and in English is available here.
Since 2023, in order to draw up their self-evaluation report with a view to be awarded the grade of “Licence” to a bachelor’s degree course, engineering schools simply need to follow the structure of the BSE Standards & Criteria, which provides all the information needed to write the report. The appendices are available below in Excel and Word format:
- – BSE, annexes 1 to 6, in Word format
- – BSE, annex 3, course structure, in Excel format.
For new projects, HEIs have to submit an application for an “ex-ante review” (Lettre d’intention) two years prior to the evaluation procedure. A simplified form is to be completed and is available in French here.
The 2024-2025 calendar
May 17th 2024:
– Submission of the engineering schools’ application files
Mid-June to Mid-September 2024:
– Site visits by expert panels
Mid-November 2024:
– Presentation of the evaluation reports at the CTI’s plenary session
December 2024/ January 2025:
– the CTI’s recommendations regarding the academic grade sent to the ministry in charge of higher education and the HEIs with the evaluation reports
– Presentation of the draft decree regarding the academic grade at the National Council for Higher Education and Research (CNESER)
– Decision regarding the academic grade by the ministry in charge of higher education which sends the official decision notifications to the HEIs
– The successful programmes may be listed on the national recruitment platform Parcoursup
– Publication of the CTI’s recommendations and evaluation reports on its website and in the European database DEQAR
September 2025 :
– Start of classes of programmes that may award the BSE degree with the academic grade
Communication
The Bachelor’s degrees that have been awarded the academic grade of “Licence” may communicate with the relevant label by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, subject to their commitment to honour the relevant rules.
N.B.:
→ The CTI’s BSE Standards & Criteria and Evaluation Process apply exclusively to courses offered by engineering schools already accredited to award the title of graduate engineer through a CTI procedure.
→ The term “Bachelor in Sciences and Engineering” (BSE) refers to institutional degrees (which may be awarded the academic grade of “Licence” following the evaluation procedure described here), which are different from national “Licence” and “Licence professionnelle” degrees, the evaluation procedures for which remain unchanged.
