I can vouch for it being present in France too. One of the best schools, Science Po Paris, has a widely known (in France) exam that used to be broadcasted on TV

I can vouch for it being present in France too. One of the best schools, Science Po Paris, has a widely known (in France) exam that used to be broadcasted on TV. It's called the "grand oral", all students are together in an amphithéâtre and they pass one by one on stage. Several professors are there with one declared purpose: to make them trip by whatever means short of screaming at them. A legendary exchange took place once, a student (obviously some future minister) was asked the depth of the Danube, and without missing a beat retorted "Under what bridge Sir ?" The point being, geography was surely not his subject, but he was supposed to be able to "talk through it".