The curriculum and the double logic of insertion (in university and professional practices)

Abstract

Intra-university practice and its self-legitimizing rules do not bear a direct relation to the professional practices of those graduating from university. Study plans can therefore remain systemically disassociated from professional needs without this leading to dysfunction in university activities. Indeed, universities do not have to respond mechanically to market demands, but they must bear in mind that the notion of social criticism must be part and parcel of the professional practices for which students are being educated, otherwise students are being prepared for unemployment and non-adjustment to the labor market, or for a discourse that will be abandoned on taking up professional activity.