Seeking Competitive Advantages through Giftedness in Globalizing French Universities: The Penelope Case

Abstract

This research takes place within the halo of the 2015 French national reform. The latter invites the existing 74 public universities to reorganize into 25 regional think tank poles to get more legitimacy in competing with international equivalent academic structures. As a response, French universities shall tackle crucial educational issues, among which gifted students’ management are a spearhead. Indeed, the French higher education system still does not consider gifted students a priority notwithstanding the serious efforts performed at the school level to try and identify children with special needs and the potential they represent for knowledge-based resources. Through the case of a student we have named Penelope, a French abnormally intelligent student, this research introduces the French higher education context and tackles the educational challenge of gifted students’ integration to academic environments that are not specifically prepared to deal with so-called deviances in a country that is going through severe academic perspectives change.