This Springer brief explores the contribution of Nicolas de Condorcet in French higher education, the historical development of his work and its influence on the history of the French education system.Condorcet's educational proposals were first devised as five Memoires, which were consolidated into the ‘Rapport et Projet de Decret sur l'Organisation Generale de l'Instruction Publique’. This report has sparked debate on the subject of education in the past and lives on as a b