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| In France, New Tech Academy Defies Conventional Wisdom | In France, New Tech Academy Defies Conventional Wisdom |
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| PARIS — In a nation of schools that are typically christened with sensible acronyms or the names of dead Frenchmen, “42” seems an odd title for an institution of higher learning. But then, Xavier Niel’s new technology academy hardly aims to be conventional. | PARIS — In a nation of schools that are typically christened with sensible acronyms or the names of dead Frenchmen, “42” seems an odd title for an institution of higher learning. But then, Xavier Niel’s new technology academy hardly aims to be conventional. |
| Mr. Niel, an affable, longhaired telecommunications executive with a high school diploma and several billion euros to his name, has spent the past decade gleefully disrupting France’s staid corporate establishment. With 42, he means to do the same, in a small but conspicuous way, to higher education in France. Computer programming classes start this month. | Mr. Niel, an affable, longhaired telecommunications executive with a high school diploma and several billion euros to his name, has spent the past decade gleefully disrupting France’s staid corporate establishment. With 42, he means to do the same, in a small but conspicuous way, to higher education in France. Computer programming classes start this month. |
| There will be no lectures or teachers per se, only group projects and “friendly organizers” wearing T-shirts. No state-sanctioned degree will be awarded, nor must incoming students, ages 18 to 30, be high school graduates. Installed in a refurbished administrative building at the gray edge of Paris, 42 is tuition-free and has sought to attract students from the country’s poorest neighborhoods. | There will be no lectures or teachers per se, only group projects and “friendly organizers” wearing T-shirts. No state-sanctioned degree will be awarded, nor must incoming students, ages 18 to 30, be high school graduates. Installed in a refurbished administrative building at the gray edge of Paris, 42 is tuition-free and has sought to attract students from the country’s poorest neighborhoods. |
| In a nod to the playful work culture of Silicon Valley, which entrepreneurs here venerate, there are plans for a slide between the rooftop deck and the cafeteria. | In a nod to the playful work culture of Silicon Valley, which entrepreneurs here venerate, there are plans for a slide between the rooftop deck and the cafeteria. |
| The academy breaks with the often-rigid methods and philosophy of the government-run education system, and Mr. Niel said it would produce graduates who were more innovative, more employable, more diverse and more useful to the stagnant French economy as a result. | |
| But the French revere their schools system, the Éducation Nationale, and the founding of 42 has been construed by some as an affront to tradition. | But the French revere their schools system, the Éducation Nationale, and the founding of 42 has been construed by some as an affront to tradition. |
| Its very name is a provocation: In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” the zany sci-fi novel by Douglas Adams that is a favorite of technology-types here, the number 42 is proclaimed the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.” | |
| “People say to us, ‘But, why didn’t you see about working with the Éducation Nationale?′ " said Mr. Niel, who has put up 70 million euros, or about $94 million, for 42’s first decade of operations. | “People say to us, ‘But, why didn’t you see about working with the Éducation Nationale?′ " said Mr. Niel, who has put up 70 million euros, or about $94 million, for 42’s first decade of operations. |
| “Well,” he said in an interview, “do you want this thing to work or not?” | “Well,” he said in an interview, “do you want this thing to work or not?” |
| The Ministry of Higher Learning declined to comment on the new academy. But public officials acknowledge that existing institutions fail to train students in skills that are in demand. Critics deride universities as “unemployment factories.” Despite a national jobless rate of nearly 11 percent, as many as 60,000 computer coding jobs are thought to be vacant in France, the government says, for lack of qualified candidates. | The Ministry of Higher Learning declined to comment on the new academy. But public officials acknowledge that existing institutions fail to train students in skills that are in demand. Critics deride universities as “unemployment factories.” Despite a national jobless rate of nearly 11 percent, as many as 60,000 computer coding jobs are thought to be vacant in France, the government says, for lack of qualified candidates. |
| The new academy promotes what many French call the Anglo-Saxon virtues of entrepreneurship and creative thinking, Mr. Niel said, whereas the standard French approach relies heavily on rote learning. | The new academy promotes what many French call the Anglo-Saxon virtues of entrepreneurship and creative thinking, Mr. Niel said, whereas the standard French approach relies heavily on rote learning. |
| “In France, there are always excellent engineers — the Germans recruit them hand over fist, for that matter,” said Nicolas Baverez, a historian and economist at the Institut Montaigne, a nonpartisan think tank. But 42 marks “the French educational system’s inability to address innovation, upward social movement, the emergence of new technologies and sectors,” Mr. Baverez said. | “In France, there are always excellent engineers — the Germans recruit them hand over fist, for that matter,” said Nicolas Baverez, a historian and economist at the Institut Montaigne, a nonpartisan think tank. But 42 marks “the French educational system’s inability to address innovation, upward social movement, the emergence of new technologies and sectors,” Mr. Baverez said. |
| Typically, French students learn specific rules for specific situations, said Nicolas Sadirac, 42’s director. “The problem is that for inventing stuff,” Mr. Sadirac said, “that’s a catastrophe.” | Typically, French students learn specific rules for specific situations, said Nicolas Sadirac, 42’s director. “The problem is that for inventing stuff,” Mr. Sadirac said, “that’s a catastrophe.” |
| On a recent afternoon, Sébastien Ho-Van, 28, slouched beneath the glow of a wide-screen monitor. He clicked occasionally on a mouse and chewed a thumbnail. | On a recent afternoon, Sébastien Ho-Van, 28, slouched beneath the glow of a wide-screen monitor. He clicked occasionally on a mouse and chewed a thumbnail. |
| “I’m trying to make a program — basically, it’s really straightforward — that calculates an expression,” said Mr. Ho-Van, who used to work as a warehouse handler. | “I’m trying to make a program — basically, it’s really straightforward — that calculates an expression,” said Mr. Ho-Van, who used to work as a warehouse handler. |
| Prospective students, who are not expected to have any programming background, sit for several hours of online logic tests. One early question, for instance, asked for the missing letter in the following sequence: 7(S), 11(O), 15(Q), 20(V), 30(?). | Prospective students, who are not expected to have any programming background, sit for several hours of online logic tests. One early question, for instance, asked for the missing letter in the following sequence: 7(S), 11(O), 15(Q), 20(V), 30(?). |
| There were 20,000 applicants this year. | There were 20,000 applicants this year. |
| Mr. Ho-Van and the other top 2,550 — who presumably answered “T,” the first letter of “trente,” the French word for 30 — were invited to participate in an intensive, monthlong camp in Paris known as the “piscine,” or pool, to determine who could “swim” at 42. Aspirants, almost all of them men, some with the self-possession of young aristocrats, some with greasy hair and smudged spectacles, arrived from across France. They camped inside the building, drying their bath towels on the stairway railings. In the end, 900 were admitted to the three-year program. | Mr. Ho-Van and the other top 2,550 — who presumably answered “T,” the first letter of “trente,” the French word for 30 — were invited to participate in an intensive, monthlong camp in Paris known as the “piscine,” or pool, to determine who could “swim” at 42. Aspirants, almost all of them men, some with the self-possession of young aristocrats, some with greasy hair and smudged spectacles, arrived from across France. They camped inside the building, drying their bath towels on the stairway railings. In the end, 900 were admitted to the three-year program. |
| The school will teach problem solving, its creators say. Some educators call this naïve. To provide students with “recipes” is hardly enough, said Pierre Baylet, an administrator at the Institut Mines-Télécom, a telecommunications school. “You have to teach them to cook!” Mr. Baylet told the education magazine L'Étudiant. | The school will teach problem solving, its creators say. Some educators call this naïve. To provide students with “recipes” is hardly enough, said Pierre Baylet, an administrator at the Institut Mines-Télécom, a telecommunications school. “You have to teach them to cook!” Mr. Baylet told the education magazine L'Étudiant. |
| Marc Neveu, a professor of computing who heads the Snesup, France’s largest union of university educators, said 42 might be shortsighted. Graduates will surely prove gifted code-writers, Mr. Neveu said, but may find themselves restricted to an “extremely precise niche” that may not always exist. | |
| “I think it’s very reductive about knowledge,” he said. “A society doesn’t only develop through short-term technological advances.” | “I think it’s very reductive about knowledge,” he said. “A society doesn’t only develop through short-term technological advances.” |
| Still, some public officials have welcomed it, especially those preoccupied with the state of the economy. | Still, some public officials have welcomed it, especially those preoccupied with the state of the economy. |
| “We need to grow more culturally accustomed to seeing private initiatives being born,” said Fleur Pellerin, the government’s minister for small businesses and the digital sector. | “We need to grow more culturally accustomed to seeing private initiatives being born,” said Fleur Pellerin, the government’s minister for small businesses and the digital sector. |
| “There’s an enormous need for qualified, trained people,” Ms. Pellerin said in an interview, and 42 “corresponds exactly” with “the way we need to be training young people today for the digital economy.” | “There’s an enormous need for qualified, trained people,” Ms. Pellerin said in an interview, and 42 “corresponds exactly” with “the way we need to be training young people today for the digital economy.” |
| Similar methods are used by other private universities, including Epitech, the programming college formerly directed by Mr. Sadirac and generally considered France’s best. But annual tuition there and at similar institutions runs several thousand euros. | Similar methods are used by other private universities, including Epitech, the programming college formerly directed by Mr. Sadirac and generally considered France’s best. But annual tuition there and at similar institutions runs several thousand euros. |
| Corentin Denos, 18, said he would need to find a “suitcase full of money” to afford that. | Corentin Denos, 18, said he would need to find a “suitcase full of money” to afford that. |
| He scored high, survived the piscine and was admitted. | He scored high, survived the piscine and was admitted. |
| The academy might strike some as “a bit peculiar,” Mr. Denos said. “It fits me perfectly.” | The academy might strike some as “a bit peculiar,” Mr. Denos said. “It fits me perfectly.” |