French Engineering Degrees Acquire "Master’s Degree" Status

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A newly acquired "Master’s degree" status for the French Engineering degree was negotiated by Campus France USA and the French Embassy following a meeting with AACRAO officials.

In December 2012, an AACRAO team of international experts met with members of CAMPUSFRANCE, a French national agency which promotes higher education and international student mobility, as well as officials and educators involved in engineering education. AACRAO Executive Director Mike Reilly led the US team, which included AACRAO Vice President for International Education Melanie Gottlieb; the French group was under the leadership of Dr. Emelienne Baneth-Nouailhetas, Attache for University Cooperation at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The meeting revolved around the AACRAO EDGE database’s credential advice regarding French education. The conversations focused largely on engineering education in France – specifically the engineering grande ecoles which are the elite system of schools that exist alongside the university sector in French higher education. The two teams closely examined information pertaining to the educational path resulting in the award of the diplome d’Ingenieur (Dip d’Ing) which in EDGE has been described as comparable to the U.S. Bachelor of Science in engineering. The French view is that this degree is more comparable to a U.S. master’s degree in engineering.