Students going to class on the campus of the University of Mirail -

Alexandre GELEBART / REA

  • At this start of the school year, 2.8 million students are expected in institutions, i.e. + 2.1% compared to 2019.

  • And 3,000 high school graduates still remain without a proposal to date, said the minister on Tuesday.

  • If 21,500 places were created in higher education at the start of the school year, they do not always correspond to the orientation wishes of graduates.

How to manage the traffic jam?

At this start of the school year, 2.8 million students are expected in higher education establishments, or + 2.1% compared to 2019. A jump that can be explained primarily by demographic reasons, but this is not all.

This year, the baccalaureate success rate was exceptional (95.7%) due to the implementation of continuous testing, the baccalaureate exams could not take place due to the coronavirus.

Suddenly, higher education must absorb 35,000 additional new baccalaureate holders in the first year.

The numbers will increase in L2 because there will be fewer repeaters this year in L1, since the universities have been more lenient in the marking.

Higher education therefore had to be reorganized as a matter of urgency, and the government created 21,500 additional places for this new school year.

There are 5,700 more places in STS, 6,000 in additional training courses of local initiative for people in reorientation or in CAP in one year, 2,000 new short training courses promoting the acquisition of technical and professional skills, more than 4,000 new places in most popular licenses, particularly in health, and 3,800 places in medical training, including more than 2,000 in nursing training.

3,000 high school graduates still have no proposal to date

In addition, the complementary phase of Parcoursup "opened earlier, from July 2, and the CAES (commissions for access to higher education) were able to enter into action earlier than usual", specified the Minister. of Higher Education, Frédérique Vidal, this Tuesday.

The closure of the Parcoursup platform was also delayed by 10 days to continue supporting students.

Despite these efforts, 3,000 high school graduates still remain without a proposal to date, said the minister.

Mainly holders of professional bac.

"We will find a solution for all," promised Frédérique Vidal, specifying that 9,000 training courses still offered places.

"We have to wait for the end of the additional Parcoursup procedure, which ends on September 24, to gain visibility on the subject," says the president of the Conference of University Presidents, Gilles Roussel.

But it is clear that at this start of the school year, Fage receives more requests for student aid on the “Sos registrations” platform than last year.

Ditto for the Unef: “We are contacted more than last year.

Because the lack of places in some training courses is still evident this year, ”says its president, Mélanie Luce.

Places created, but still not enough in certain sectors

For Orlane François, president of Fage, several problems arise.

First of all, the new places created in higher education do not necessarily correspond to the training courses most requested by students: “Certain short courses offered do not lead to qualifications.

There is concern that some students who accept them will feel that they are wasting their time, and that this will not then guarantee them that they will be able to access the training they really want.

And the 4,000 places in the most requested licenses are insufficient to absorb the demand, ”she says.

Another concern according to her: despite the establishment of quotas of vocational and technological baccalaureate holders at the entrance of BTS and DUT, “many of them do not manage to integrate these training courses.

It would be necessary to establish a legal registration of professional and techno baccalaureate holders in these courses, ”she believes.

An option that the ministry is not considering for the moment.

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