"France has 82 universities, teaching 1.5m students. All are public; none charges tuition fees; undergraduate enrolment charges are a tiny €165 ($220). All lecturers are civil servants. Universities cannot select students, who can apply only to ones near them. The results speak for themselves. Not a single French university makes it into the world's top 40, as ranked by Shanghai's Jiao Tong University." Who cares if they make into the world's top 40 or 50 or US World and News Report?