French elite colleges in the process of internationalisation. A qualitative study of the Écoles normales supérieures

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In the proposed research project, French elite colleges are to be analysed regarding the current transformation processes in the academic field with special attention paid to the dimension of internationalisation. In this context the project aims at a reconstruction of the debate of internationalisation and internationality in the self-representations of two contrasting Ecoles normales superieures whose programmes explicitly refer to the formation of the future scientific elite.Theoretically, the research project is placed in the context of research into critical elite and is pre-eminently tied to what could be called the classic work of Pierre Bourdieu and colleagues on the French system of elite education. Reference points of the study, which pertain to the Bourdieusian theory of field or to the discourse theory of Michel Foucault, are perceived as heuristic elements, which can be further developed in the research process and possibly modified.Methodologically, the proposed study is based on an already existing body of data consisting of expert interviews with representatives of these institutions and documents of self-representation from the colleges, which will be examined with a secondary analysis from the perspective of internationalisation, using the method of documentary interpretation.It is expected that the project will generate new insights into the current transformation of the system of elite education in France, which promise to be innovative connection points and dimensions of comparison regarding the study of the field of elite and education in terms of the German education system.