法国高等教育具有自身独特的传统和优势，但在应对全球及其国内的挑战时，法国高等教育体系复杂、教学与科研相对分离等局限性对于其发挥积极作用形成掣肘。进入21世纪以来，为提升高等教育的国际竞争力、加强科研育人、提高科技创新水平，法国历届政府在法律、政策和经费层面给予公立大学重组以支持，“卓越大学计划”取得了一定进展。但囿于种种因素，一些重组计划发展不利。为推进改革，法国政府不断提升大学的自治水平，希望在保持各高校传统特色的同时，提升国际知名度和影响力。改革不断深入，但困难和挑战愈加严峻，法国政府实现以高等教育和科研的改革撬动社会发展的愿景，仍然任重道远。
Notwithstanding its own tradition and strength，while facing global and domestic challenges，higher education in France is hindered from fully playing its role by its limitations such as the complexity of education system，the relative isolation of teaching and research，ect.. Since the beginning of the 21st century，the regroupment of French public universities has been supported in legislation，policy and finance by the French government，in order to improve the competitiveness of higher education，enhancing teaching through research，and promoting technology innovation. The Initiative d’excellence has made certain advances. However，for various reasons，the regroupment plans have run into difficulties. The French government has made enormous efforts to increase the autonomy of public universities so as to enhance international visibility and influence while keeping the traditional characteristics of the French higher education. As the reform deepens，the difficulties and challenges become more and more severe. The strategy of French government—levering social development by higher education and research reforms—remains an arduous task to accomplish.
