2017 - " The CLES Certification, a Complex System Generating Quality? "

This article examines the impact of the implementation of the CLES certification (Higher Education Language Skills Certification) at the University of Corsica. We will consider the issue of quality from two angles: on the one hand, the approach taken to perform a qualitative assessment of the certification apparatus, and on the other hand, the analysis of the effects of the implementation of this certification. Inspired by the concept of complexity as analysed by Morin (1998), we will explain how change takes place by evoking the principle of "enovation" introduced by Gelinas and Fortin. A washback study (Alderson et Wall) will confirm the prismatic quality of the CLES, and reveal that the goals it meets are not just linguistic, but political, economic and social as well. Finally, through a systemic analysis of the CLES, we will demonstrate its usefulness for higher education.