Heir to the royal academy of architecture created in 1671 by Louis XIV, the teaching of architecture was built in the modern period in reaction to academicism. It took its autonomy in 1968 at the time of the break-up of the Fine Arts. Established as Pedagogical Units (UP), in 1978 the schools of architecture took the status of public administrative institution.

Coming from the old UP, relatively autonomous in their pedagogical choices, the current schools have in common to associate with theoretical teaching, project practice delivered by practitioners recruited for their skills and recognition by the professional community.

At the crossroads of many disciplines (artistic, technical, sociological) and closely related to the practice of the profession, the teaching of architecture is distinguished from other disciplines of higher education by a generalist and multidisciplinary approach.

The evolution of this teaching was often carried out in a radical way, in connection with the technical revolutions (reinforced concrete), stylistic (modern movement) or societal (1968).

Alongside the content reforms, schools have also evolved in their organization. In 2001, the redesign of four Paris schools resulted in the creation of Paris-Val de Seine and Paris-Malaquais.

The most recent of these reforms concerns the implementation of the MDL in 2005. It responds to the need to fit into the European framework, to get closer to university courses, and to facilitate relations with the other schools of architecture of the European community

Notable successes

Higher education and research in architecture have successfully passed the decisive stage of the transition to the LMD (Licence-Master-Doctorate) and evaluations by the AERES (Agence d'évaluation de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche), thus demonstrating the ability of schools to meet increasingly demanding and standardized standards of excellence.

Their concrete successes are also evident: the influx of French and foreign students, the ability of many research teams to successfully integrate into the competitive financing resulting from the Grand Emprunt (labex worn by the Ecole nationale supérieure d'architecture de Grenoble) or in international competitions (such as Solar Decathlon), excellent professional integration of graduates.

These results are all the more remarkable since they were achieved without new budgetary means. The School Directors presented their analysis of this paradoxical situation in a document addressed to the elected representatives of the Nation during the last legislative elections.

The challenges of the future

Environmental, economic, social and cultural changes invite us to reinvent the living environment of tomorrow’s metropolises, new ways of living, a different relationship to the landscape and the environment, so many subjects on which the architect must place himself as an essential reference.

Essential for his ability to understand space in its complexity, its richness and its fragility, the architect must be able to master or become familiar with fields that are constantly expanding and becoming more complex.

It must be the bearer of a global and synthetic vision in order to anticipate the difficulties of project owners in conceptualizing and formalising moving and complex programs.

He must also be able to demonstrate his ability to master the technique or even to specialize in certain complex areas in order to better establish his credibility.

The task is considerable, and pedagogies must themselves prove their ability to renew themselves, to adapt, to listen to the public, to form architects close to the realities and needs of today.

Devices to be consolidated

The reform of the LMD has given concrete expression to the dynamic of rapprochement with other European countries and the opening up of education and the profession to wider perspectives, but it has also led to increased competition between European schools. Schools are part of a competitive dynamic that forces them to position themselves and to explain their specificity in order to strengthen their attractiveness towards students and teachers. But the quality of the French system must continue to assert itself on the national and international scene, following the example of successes such as the victory in the "Solar decathlon" competition.

In its May 2012 report, the AERES highlighted disparities within schools, some of which could eventually be fragile:

- inclusion in site policies and alignment with PRES;

- the low success rate in the dual architectural and engineering courses;

- support for research which would require the creation at national level of teaching and research status;

- the establishment of a culture of evaluation and a policy of monitoring graduate students;

- language teaching and proficiency in English.

Beyond this report it is necessary to ask whether the difficulty of insertion in site policies is not to be related to the size of certain schools. The pooling of resources and the improvement of support for higher education and research could be one of the avenues to be strengthened. The method of recruitment of students at the entrance of schools is also a disparity and the modalities of the recruitment competition for teachers raises a rather unanimous dissatisfaction. Although this last point is not the responsibility of the schools, it must be brought to the debate.

 Qualified architects fit well professionally but with low pay levels and difficulty in positioning themselves in the construction and rehabilitation value chain.

The world of higher education is marked by the evolution of structures and by groupings to gather forces and achieve real visibility (convergence between the 83 Universities and the 225 Grandes Écoles). It is in this context that the Minister of Education and Research launched the foundations of higher education and research on 26 and 27 November.

Within the Ministry of Culture and Communication (MCC), the transversal reflection on the common elements of identity of the "Culture" higher schools may be reflected in the constitution this autumn at national level of a conference of higher education institutions Culture, in order to promote the shared interests and concerns of these courses oriented towards the ability to design, create and produce.

The teaching of architecture must be part of these dynamics, especially in the field of research, which currently has about forty units distributed in schools and which would gain in quality in the context of greater synergies.

• The strategic objectives