ABSTRACT
Each national university system is specific, strongly embedded in national institutional settings and results from a specific history. This is especially true for the French system because of the particularly disrupted trajectory of French universities. It is usual to identify France as a latecomer in New Public Management (NPM). The introduction of NPM methods and solutions in French administration, now in place for a decade, first reached universities in mid-2000 when the new budgetary process that was introduced into French public administration was also implemented in public higher education institutions. The reform of governance was more successful but it took time to work out. The role played by the central level of French universities not only relies on a strengthened central administration and the development of a dual, but cooperative, hierarchy. The attention paid to data on research is highly compatible with and relevant to the fact that research has become a major factor in French universities.
