Acoustics education in France: Past, present and future

Acoustics is the science of sound. The interdisciplinary nature of acoustics implies the broad scope of acoustics education and the necessity to teach it at various levels of the student education, from high school to Ph.D. In the 1960s acoustics was not an important part of the French education system. Progressively teaching acoustics at a higher education level became natural and, in the 1990s, France was the only country to give a diploma between six and eight years after the secondary studies leaving certificate (Bac in french). The quality of this diploma was directly related to the emergence in France of research teams specialized in acoustics. Teaching acoustics at a secondary level came into effect only in 1994 for senior high school students. This presentation will first summarize the current acoustics education system in France with its characteristic in secondary education (senior high school) and higher education, univerities (first, second, and third cycle), engineering schools (French typcia...