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This article conveys the speech given by Milena Dragićević Šešić when receiving her honorary doctorate from the University of Montpellier. After evoking her academic career and what it owes to French academic culture, as well as the links that unite Serbia to a specific idea of francophonie and francophilia, she analyzes the evolution of academic worlds in the contemporary context. In a resolutely critical way, she examines their transformation towards “academic capitalism”. The article then discusses the changes that have taken place in teaching and the development of cultural policies around the world, particularly in the Balkans. It deduces the consequences in terms of content, with the simple but often misguided idea that a cultural policy is not limited to sectors of public action but must strive to take a critical look at the world and its fractures.