Chapter 1688 - 1594: Higher Education Reform

Chapter 1688: Chapter 1594: Higher Education Reform

Joseph inquired further and learned that although the tuition for doctoral students nowadays is only 300 francs per year—with the royal family providing an annual subsidy of 800 francs—they must personally come up with an additional 800 to 2,000 francs per year, depending on their field, to conduct research unhindered and eventually complete their dissertations.

This sum of money is something ordinary people simply cannot afford. As a result, those applying for doctorates are primarily nobles and major capitalists.

Tener managed to scrape together enough for his studies by working at the Royal Chemical Factory, but doctoral advisors still prefer the children of nobles or major capitalists. After all, they wouldn’t require financial support and might even finance their experiments.

In fact, universities also offer some privately donated scholarships, but they are hard for ordinary people to obtain—the donors usually specify that applicants must be from noble families or those associated with them.

Joseph had only seen a list of nearly 40 doctoral students and didn’t realize only 3 were from ordinary families.

According to Girard, even these 3 have some degree of noble sponsorship behind them.

Joseph frowned again.

Was his effort to promote the talent cultivation system in France just at its inception already turning into an educational monopoly?

He looked at Tener and said, "I will look into this matter. Please be patient a while longer."

The young technician was overjoyed and bowed deeply, "Thank you, Your Majesty the Regent. May Jesus bless you!"

Early the next morning, the President of the French Academy of Sciences and the Minister of Science and Education were summoned to Joseph’s study.

Joseph handed them the "Higher Education Reform Draft" he had prepared the night before: "France has a population of 40 million. We must fully exploit the talents within this number to maintain technical leadership in the industrial age, rather than relying on fewer than 400,000 nobles to support the academic system!"

Hmm, at present, the population within the "old realm" of France is 32 million, with 2 million in the Rheinland region, 900,000 in the Walloon Region, 900,000 in certain Swiss cantons, 3.8 million in North Africa, and 200,000 in northwest Italy, totaling nearly 40 million people.

This does not include the American colonies. Louisiana now has three to four hundred thousand people, but more than 80% of them are Indians.

Joseph continued, "This requires that more young people from poor families have the opportunity to enter universities and even become doctoral students."

Currently, primary compulsory education in France is already generally available; all boys can attend primary school for free until graduation. Of course, girls can also attend school for free, but most French families are not yet willing to let girls attend comprehensive schools, so the enrollment rate is only in single digits.

On this basis, ordinary families have the opportunity to touch higher education—the tuition for secondary schools is not too high and many families can afford it.

Therefore, higher education reform is well-timed.

Minister Monge, looking at the Regent’s grand plan, was a bit embarrassed, "Your Highness, if I may, the Ministry of Education simply doesn’t have the funds..."

In this era, university tuition is not cheap. First, a professor’s salary is 70% of that of an Army Quasi-General, and even lower-level teachers have decent incomes. Second, various experimental equipment, books, and raw materials are very expensive, as the production is low, and most require customization.

The current "registration fee" for universities in Paris is 50 francs per quarter, totaling 200 francs annually. In the provinces, it is about 120 francs.

However, student living expenses, textbooks, and other costs amount to 500 to 1,000 francs annually.

There are 11,000 registered university students across France. If the Ministry of Education were to cover their educational expenses, it would cost over 10 million francs annually in scholarships alone.

Although the number of doctoral students is small, the expenses amount to over 1 million francs.

The annual budget for the Ministry of Science and Education is less than 20 million francs, most of which is used to sustain the compulsory education system.

Joseph shook his head with a smile, "By adopting a credit-based scholarship system, an additional two to three million francs per year would suffice."

Monge and Le Roy exchanged glances, both full of doubt, "Credits?"

They knew about scholarships, but they couldn’t solve the problem for poor students.

Joseph explained, "In the future, universities will assign credits to all courses, and students will earn corresponding credits once they pass a course."

"For instance, 100 credits are needed to graduate, but talented students can earn 120 credits or more by taking additional subjects."

"Scholarships will be tiered. Even a student with excellent grades can only apply for the lowest tier scholarship with 100 credits, and 120 credits are required to apply for a higher tier. The top-tier scholarship can reach up to 1,500 francs annually but requires 150 credits to apply."

"This way, talented students, no matter how poor, will not be overlooked. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education won’t need to allocate a large budget, as few students can reach the top-tier scholarship."

"Moreover, scholarships will be awarded based primarily on assessment results. Students who don’t achieve an excellent grade in 80% of courses won’t have the eligibility to apply. Of course, interviews will still be conducted, but only as a reference factor."

This seemingly ordinary concept of the future was an unheard-of advanced system in the early 19th century.

At this time, university scholarships were primarily awarded based on professor interviews, with significant potential for manipulation.

Students didn’t need to focus on their coursework; maintaining good relations with professors was enough.

Some offspring of prominent families even had fixed scholarships.

However, the scholarship amounts weren’t very high.

Both Monge and Le Roy’s eyes lit up. Indeed, universities need to support true talent, not provide widespread assistance. This way, they could save subsidy funds to the greatest extent possible.

Joseph continued, "The Ministry of Science and Education will also form a ’Scholarship Review Committee’ to unify the management of all schools’ scholarships and tuition assistance."

"Henceforth, whether it’s royal tuition assistance or personal donations to universities, they must first be registered with the Review Committee. After the university determines the recipients, the Review Committee will conduct a secondary review before disbursing the funds."

This measure is to counteract the nobles’ educational monopoly. Money that seemingly donates to a university actually goes back to the hands of their family members. Now managed uniformly by the Review Committee, students who don’t meet the application criteria, no matter how noble their origin, won’t get a cent.

Joseph then looked at the Academy of Sciences President: "Mr. Le Roy, from this year on, I need the Academy of Sciences to select ten doctoral advisors and openly recruit doctoral students."

"Huh? Are you saying that the Academy of Sciences will also teach students?"

"Not just the Academy of Sciences, but also the Engineering Design Institute and even the Royal Armory will recruit doctoral students. Talent isn’t only nurtured in schools. Sometimes it’s easier to learn things in laboratories and workshops."