About France
France draws up many images—romantic couples strolling through the quiet
neighborhoods of Paris, disgruntled farmers dumping produce on streets
as a protest against governmental agricultural policies, high-speed TGV
trains flying through the countryside, the opening spectacle of the
Winter Olympics in Savoie, the existentialism of Sartre, fashion,
bureaucracy, the Foreign Legion, perfume, the Undersea World of Jacques
Cousteau, gothic churches, the birth of democracy and the death of Marie
Antoinette on the guillotine. Perhaps no other country stirs up such
emotions as France. It is an enigma, a feast of the senses, a place that
always seems to be reinventing itself. France has a Parliamentary
government, with two branches—the National Assembly (577 members) and
the Senate (321 members). A President is elected for a term of seven
years. France has the fourth largest economy in the world, and is the
second largest exporter of agricultural products, including its famous
wines. The French visit restaurants more often then their northern
European neighbors, and leisurely meals are an important element of
French culture. Although there has been some resistance to fast food,
this effort has not been entirely successful, and a number of fast food
chains have gained a firm foothold on French soil. France has produced a
number of influential sculptors such as Rodin, and painters such as the
impressionists Monet and Renoir, and post-impressionists Degas, Cezanne,
Gaugin, and Rosseau. In Paris, the Louvre contains one of the world’s
largest and most important art collections. In cinema, the French have
also made major contributions starting the New Wave movement with the
innovative films of Goddard, Resnais, and Truffaut.
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French
Educational System Undergraduate studies at a French university are organized into two
cycles. In the first two-year cycle, students take multidisciplinary
subjects. In the second cycle that lasts one year (or two if students
are doing research), students focus more on their specialty. Classes
usually consist of lectures and seminars, and grades are based on final
exams that may have a written and an oral component. Grades are based on
a scale of 0-20 with 10 considered passing, 11-12 good and 13-14 very
good. Scores of 16 or above are rare. The academic calendar typically
runs October to January and February to June.
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