French children start school at 6 and graduate at 18. You can study remotely at any age. Distance learning began to develop in France in the first half of the twentieth century. There is a National Center for Distance Education CNED. It offers training and education in different institutions. According to statistics, now more than 300,000 people from all over the world are trained in CNED annually.
The specificity of training in France, especially in terms of higher education, is that the student does not have to attend all the lectures and classes, he must complete the program and report on it. Assessment of the acquired knowledge is carried out on strictly designated days twice a year – in winter and spring – by specially convened academic commissions, the rest of the time the student is left to himself.
Understandably, with this system, distance learning, which lasts for years, is very popular among French youth. In addition to academic knowledge, students gain important self-study skills, and professors and faculty gain the tradition of developing and applying distance learning materials.
Currently, France, as well as the rest of the world, is undergoing a significant restructuring of its educational system. More and more programs include partially or fully interactive classes. This reform occurs because of the increasing cost of education, organizational problems, as well as the development of distance learning methods.
In the last decade, distance learning has already undergone a significant transformation and continues to develop intensively. So, if in 1993 the system of distance learning covered 1.3 million students, by 2000 their number increased by more than 11 million. In addition, the composition of students has changed. Today, only 4.5 million of the 14.2 million students are enrolled full-time: young people aged 18 to 22, living on campus or in rented university housing. Overall, from 1972 to 1994 the percentage of students over 25 years of age increased significantly, from 28 percent to 41 percent. Students in this age group prefer flexible schedules and independence from faculty locations. Thus, educators need to determine how best to meet the needs of this educational market.
Experts define distance learning as the organization of teaching and delivery of educational materials by print or electronic means to geographically distant students. In the United States, for example, more than one-third of all colleges and universities already offer what is called distance learning; by 2002, four out of five students are expected to be studying remotely.