French higher music education system

The study provides a characteristic of the French model of higher musical education with a pronounced national specificity, which consists of a special division into levels, or cycles, with its own system of naming academic degrees, awarding diplomas, etc. The authors revealed that the organization of a complex “organism” of the musical education system, presented in a variety of types of public and private institutions, is based on the principle of complementarity of curricula and the identity of competitive examinations. The phenomenon of the high status of university music education is especially noteworthy. Although until recently it concerned mainly musicology and pedagogy, in the last two decades, obtaining an academic degree approved by the higher conservatory together with the university has become prestigious for musicians of various specialties, including concert performers.