422 APPENDIX III 



obtain the " baccalaureat de 1'enseignement secondaire," required 

 for practically all the higher degrees conferred by the State. 



No sooner were the Universities granted their autonomy in 

 1896 than they began to take advantage of their newly conferred 

 powers by establishing degrees of purely scientific and academic 

 value, divorced from any direct relation to the professions in France. 

 Among these degrees are the various "doctorats de 1'universite." 

 Though each University is free to determine for itself the conditions 

 required for obtaining these degrees, all have striven toward a 

 common standard, just as have our better institutions in giving 

 a fixed value to our Ph.D. This process of standardizing has 

 also been furthered by the desire to make the doctor's degrees, 

 conferred by the Universities, stand for the same grade of 

 scientific and scholarly achievements as those conferred by the 

 State. 



Though the latter are still open to American and all other foreign 

 students under the conditions indicated in Appendix II, still, to 

 all intents and purposes, the university degrees serve the same 

 function as our own doctor's degrees, and are consequently the 

 degrees which most American graduate students in France will 

 likely seek. 



The Doctor's Thesis and Examination. A thesis is required in 

 order to obtain the Doctor's degree in France, no matter along 

 what line of specialization it is sought. In general this work cor- 

 responds in scope to the thesis required for our Ph.D. Yet it is 

 often a much more elaborate piece of work, amounting to a compre- 

 hensive and exhaustive monograph on the subject. No limit as to 

 its length and scope is laid down, as with us. Many French 

 doctorate theses have become classics in their particular field of 

 research and have raised their authors to the front rank of recog- 

 nized scholars. 



The subject and general plan of the thesis must be submitted 

 for approval to the Faculty in which the degree is sought, by a pro- 

 fessor representing the special line of work implied in the thesis. 

 When completed, it is passed upon by a group of specialists ap- 

 pointed by the Dean, and, if accepted by them, is then approved 

 by the Dean himself. The "Recteur" of the "Academic'' finally 

 passes upon it, and issues or denies a permission to print it. After 

 it is printed, the candidate is called upon to support and defend his 

 work in public before an examining committee, usually composed 

 of six members. 



