Bachelor or Licence: What's the Difference?

Two Bac+3 qualifications, two different statuses

A licence is a national qualification, awarded by public universities as part of a course subsidised by the State: it validates a Bac+3 level and 180 ECTS credits, whichever university awards it. A bachelor's, on the other hand, is a school qualification whose recognition is not automatic, since it rests on the qualification itself rather than on the status of the institution.

This recognition is verified through three combined guarantees:

• the visa, granted by the Ministry of Higher Education
• the grade the qualification gives access to
• its listing on the RNCP (France's National Register of Professional Certifications)

Together, they form visa, grade and RNCP, the three forms of recognition for a qualification, which can be checked free of charge in a public register.

One nuance sheds light on everything else: the word "bachelor" also exists in the public system, with the BUT (bachelor universitaire de technologie), a national qualification created in 2019, completed over three years at university institutes of technology, which validates 180 ECTS credits and also confers the Grade de Licence. So it is not the word "bachelor" that sets the two worlds apart, but the grade a qualification does or does not obtain. That is what matters when the time comes to continue your studies.

What's different about the studies

At university, economics and management courses are open without an entrance exam. A school bachelor's is generally taught in small-scale cohorts, with classes given by both lecturer-researchers and entrepreneurs, and professional experience built into the course, whose nature and duration vary according to the programme chosen.

The most concrete difference for a family remains financial: university fees remain significantly lower than the tuition fees of a business school, whichever one it is. This is worth looking at in detail rather than dreading in the abstract, since it depends on the campus, accommodation and the financing method chosen: our study cost estimator gives you a personalised estimate in a few minutes.

How to choose, and what happens next

On paper, both paths lead a long way: after a Bac+3, whether it is a licence, a licence professionnelle, a BUT or a bachelor's, it is possible to continue on to a master's or to join a management school through direct entry admission. The choice therefore depends less on what comes next than on the path that leads there: to aim for research, teaching or the civil service, university remains the natural route; for a project geared towards business, with professionalisation embraced from the first year, a school bachelor's better meets the objective.

In practice, checking these criteria means consulting the page for the programme in question: the Bachelor in Business at Excelia Business School is one example, since it is a State-accredited qualification, which confers the Grade de Licence and is listed on the RNCP at level 6, the same recognition requirement as a licence. For a complete overview, see what a bachelor in business is. If the hesitation persists between the two routes, our post-baccalaureate guidance quiz helps you identify, in a few questions, the path consistent with your plans.