Complex sentence: Most schools of higher education that were created during the French revolution have a special reputation among the French as they helped to make the transition from a mostly agricultural country of late 18th century to the industrially developed France of the 19th century.
Split into simpler sentences: Most schools of higher education that were created during the French revolution have a special status in French people mind. They helped to make the transition from a mostly agricultural country of late 18th century to the industrial state that France was in the 19th century.