The attempt to give the third and fourth years of university study in France more vocational relevance (the second cycle reform of 1976) is analyzed in relation to the fundamental transformations taking place in French higher education in the areas of access to higher education, institutional diversification, and university governance. Although the deteriorating employment prospects for university graduates made this type of reform imperative, the government's proposals provoked massive opposition by threatening the interests of teachers and students. This pressure produced concessions that insured that the reform, when implemented, would have little impact on the universities or on the problem it was intended to remedy. Given the realities of French higher education, the government's original proposals were ill-conceived. The opposition was narrowly self-interested and ideological. The resultant crisis has only furthered the devaluation of university study in France. In its aftermath, the capacity of universities to promote social mobility has been attenuated; forces tending toward the homogenization of the different universities have been strengthened; and the government's Pyrrhic victory in retaining this reform may make its future control over higher education in France more difficult. (Author)