When you Can't Face your own Failures, Move the Goalposts

Can you smell the "élan"?

The French Senate has proposed developing a new European university ranking system to counter the powerful Shanghai world ranking, which is said to favour English-language institutions. With France holding the EU's six-month rotating presidency, the issue is likely to be discussed by EU education ministers in November.

Why? Because it doesn't give an entrenched, embarassing, corroded monopoly a way to keep their meal ticket.

At national level, the lack of a transparent system distorts the allocation of human and financial resources, notes the report. At international level, it harms the attractiveness of France as a destination for foreign students and researchers and decreases the visibility of university research.