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The medical advances have revolutionized the management of birth in France, becoming a technical performance. Our goal was to understand the role of midwives about the medicalization of birth in France in the 20th century.Our historical study based on the scientific literature, and on the analysis of a corpus of 87 articles from Les Dossiers de l’Obstétrique from 1974 to 1981, written by midwives and obstetricians, and regulations.We found a balance between the different components of Midwives role in medicalization. The main arguments in favor recalled security of birth and the reaffirmation of the medical status of midwives.However, they have gradually claimed a humanization of birth. This study shows the ambivalence of the profession, claiming a practice, being at the same time, medical, technical, and human. The profession is still seeking to balance these different aspects., Les progrès en médecine ont bouleversé la prise en charge de la naissance en France, transformant l’heureux évènement en performance technique. Notre objectif était de comprendre le rôle des sages-femmes dans la médicalisation de la naissance en France au cours du 20ème siècle.Notre étude historique reposait sur la littérature scientifique, ainsi que sur l’analyse d’un corpus de 87 articles issus des Dossiers de l’Obstétrique, de 1974 à 1981, rédigés par des sages-femmes et desgynécologues-obstétriciens, ainsi que des textes réglementaires.Nous avons retrouvé une adéquation entre les différentes composantes du rôle des sages-femmes dans la médicalisation. Les principaux arguments en sa faveur évoquaient la sécurisation de la naissance et la réaffirmation du statut médical des sages-femmes. Cependant, celles-ci ont progressivement revendiqué une humanisation des naissances.Cette étude montre l’ambivalence de la profession, revendiquant une pratique à la fois médicale, technique, et humaine. La profession cherche encore aujourd’hui un équilibre entre ces différents aspects.

Higher education contributes to economic innovation. This study measures and compares the extent to which national governments’ policies foster this contribution across Europe. The study stresses the relevance of policies which are ‘empowering’ for higher education institutions, or in other words provide them with appropriate resources and regulatory environments. The assessment relies on quantitative scores, based on the contribution of policies regarding funding and autonomy to higher education performance in education, research and economic innovation, using non-arbitrary weights and eighteen policy indicators across 32 European countries. A large number of countries belong to a ‘middle group’ in our overall assessment, indicating a relative cohesion in Europe. Yet, substantial variations exist in terms of higher education policy in Europe, each European country having room for policy improvement.