The boys ordinarily begin the first ‘cycle’ of the lycée or collège at ten years of age, and while they may transfer from the primary system at this stage, in most lycées and collèges there are preparatory classes to train the pupil from six to ten. The second ‘cycle,’ during which the differentiation in courses largely occurs, takes the pupil from fourteen to seventeen, and leads upon completion to the bachelor’s degree. Education in a lycée or collège is not gratuitous, but the income from tuition fees is so small as to cover but a small fraction of the cost, and the rest is contributed by the state. The communal collèges differ from the lycées in being local, and they are maintained by the communes, as well as by the state. They have not the same standing, and the same attainments are not required of their professors. Until 1880 there were no lycées and communal collèges for girls, and convents and private schools furnished the only means of female education. Even now the usual course in the public secondary institutions for girls is two years shorter than in those for boys. [Sidenote: Suppression and restoration of the universities.] [Sidenote: Degrees.] [Sidenote: Other higher institutions.] =The Institutions of Higher Education.=--More than one-half of the universities established in the various ‘academies’ by Napoleon were suppressed as soon as the monarchy was restored. But about half a dozen were reopened in the reign of Louis Philippe, and were gradually improved by the addition of new chairs. Beginning in 1885, a number of decrees established a general council of faculties in each academy to coördinate the different courses and studies, and in 1896 a law was passed, which established a university in each of the sixteen ‘academies,’ except one. These universities differ greatly in size, but all grant the _license_, or master’s degree, and the doctorate. The university degrees are ordinarily conferred in the name of the state and carry certain definite rights with them, but of late years a new type of degree, ‘doctorate of the university,’ is granted upon easier terms to foreigners more desirous of the degree than of its state privileges. In Paris, besides the university, there is the College of France, which still endeavors to foster freedom of thought (see p. 110), and a dozen other institutions of university grade, connected with some special line, have been established. [Sidenote: Duties of minister,] [Sidenote: rectors,] [Sidenote: prefects,] [Sidenote: and inspectors.]