During her back-to-school press conference, the Minister of Higher Education said that the failure in the first year of the license was "on the decline".
An affirmation to be taken with a grain of salt, because this success rate varies from one university to another, depending on the courses and the original bac.
To explain her optimism, the minister believes that the ORE law (student orientation and success), passed in 2018, has helped improve student success.
But this assertion is not unanimous.
This is the ball that the university system has been dragging for years: the massive failure of undergraduate students. And no government has really succeeded in reversing the trend. But according to the Minister of Higher Education, Frédérique Vidal, the light would begin to dawn at the end of the tunnel. “In 2016, a high school student entering a license had a 41% chance of succeeding in his year. In 2018, this rate rose to 45.4%, and it should reach 47% in 2022. Concretely, of the 300,000 students enrolled on average each year for a license, there were 12,000 more to succeed in 2018, and will be 21,000 more. more this year. Failure in bachelor's degree, which was one of the major scourges of our higher education at the start of the five-year term, is finally on the decline, ”she said with pride at the end of September,during his back-to-school press conference.
But should we really claim victory?
It is undoubtedly a little too early, according to Romuald Bodin, sociologist at the University of Nantes: “For several decades, the success rate in the first year of the license has been around 43%, with variations of more or less. minus 3%.
So this figure of 45.4% is not spectacular.
And comparing the success figure in 2018 to that of 2016, which was rather in the low average, it shows a nice increase.
Whereas the comparison with the year 2017, where this rate reached 43.5%, was less flattering ”.
Different success depending on the sector
It is also difficult to draw a uniform assessment according to Virginie Dupont, vice-president of the Conference of University Presidents: “In my university in South Brittany, success is traditionally better in science license than in law. This is due in particular to the fact that science subjects are taught in high school and that graduates know what to expect when they enroll in such a course. While they did not do law in Terminale and they cannot rely on acquired knowledge ”. Admittedly, in Staps, the rate of passage in the second year increased by 7.6 points between 2017 and 2018. “But this is not very surprising because previously, the registrations were made by lot, whereas now, the students are selected on the basis of their application, ”notes Romuald Bodin.
While they haven't fallen yet, the freshman achievement numbers for the years 2020 and 2021 are likely to be in the upper range as well. “But that won't be very significant either, because all the ways of assessing students were not usual due to the pandemic. There were more file reviews, multiple choice questions… And perhaps more benevolence in the scoring, ”suggests Romuald Bodin. As for the forecast figure of 47% success in 2022, the Ministry of Higher Education does not specify how it arrived at such a projection. “However, we cannot anticipate this result,” said Romuald Bodin. “It's a little strong coffee. Especially since we come out of a very difficult year and a half, where the students did not have normal learning conditions,which could have caused serious shortcomings for them, ”says Hervé Christofol, secretary general of Snesup-FSU.
Did the ORE law hold its bet?
To explain her optimism, the Minister believes that the ORE law (student orientation and success), passed in 2018, has improved student success.
“The ambition of the law was to achieve better guidance for graduates and better student success.
But the figures of the candidates for the last edition of Parcoursup do not show that the rate of reorientation has fallen.
Besides the 635,000 new baccalaureate graduates registered on the platform in 2021, there were 182,000 candidates in reorientation, ”notes Hervé Christofol.
Frédérique Vidal believes that the students have benefited from better support, in particular thanks to tutoring or the "yes, if" device, reserved for new graduates who are a little fragile.
This is also thought by Virginie Dupont: “Students who are having difficulties can in particular complete their first year over two years.
This puts less pressure on them and limits dropping out ”.
But for Hervé Christofol, “no study has made it possible to measure whether these support measures have had positive effects on the success rate.
In addition, the formulas "yes, if" are very heterogeneous according to the universities.
In some, these are refresher hours.
But in others of a simple tutoring ”.
Not all equal when it comes to success ...
Finally, to put forward an overall number of success in bachelor's degree, it is to omit the disparities that exist according to the baccalaureate of origin. "However, in 2018, 52% of general baccalaureate holders validated their license in three or four years, against 15% of technological baccalaureate holders and 5% of professional baccalaureate holders," observes Romuald Bodin. “Professional baccalaureate graduates often lack fundamental theoretical skills to succeed in generalist bachelor's degrees. They are more comfortable at university when they first go through a BTS or BUT, ”notes Virginie Dupont.
Success in the first year also depends on the social origin of the students: according to a study by the Ministry of Higher Education, in 2018, 48% of students from a privileged background went to the second year, against 36.6% for those from a disadvantaged background.
"Those who have to work during their studies to finance them leave with an additional difficulty", underlines in particular Virginie Dupont.
Society
Start of the 2021 school year: "Student festive events will be subject to the health pass", announces Frédérique Vidal
Society
Back to school 2021: Why student precariousness is still a reality at the start of the academic year
Fake off
University
Higher Education
Frederique Vidal
Society