Abstract EN:

The increase in the number of institutions of higher education in Brittany, notably the creation of universities, universities branches, engineering schools, and technical colleges since the 1970s, can be understood by an analysis of the historical process of the development of the network of medieval European universities, and later of universities and colleges in France between the Renaissance and the Revolution. The analysis bears simultaneously on the geographic distribution of universities, on the role of the diverse actors (popes, royalty, territorial princes, cities, and communities), and on the political models that inspired them. As their network became increasingly dense, local or regional recruitment of universities succeeded the international recruitment of the great medieval universities or the academic peregrination of the Renaissance. The movement toward the " nationalisation " of universities contributed to the progressive limitation of their scope for recruitment, which was also linked to a gradual evolution in the relations between parents and their children. The " discovery of childhood ", in which universities and colleges participated, was marked by a greater emotional attachment between generations and an increasing demand for local instruction, making a strong contribution to the movement from the old arts faculties to the colleges of the Ancien Regime. This movement is analysed in the context of the old Province of Brittany between the transfer of the law faculty from Nantes to Rennes (1735) and the Revolution. The present demand for local higher education has been accompanied by a considerable development in students remaining at home. According to surveys, this development remains nevertheless lower among Breton students than among students in Cologne or Düsseldorf. The choice of location for internships also testifies to the low mobility of students who have become attached to their parental home or to their own home, if they live in a couple.