Foreign students: the decision of the Constitutional Council, a victory in half-hearted?

The principle of free public higher education was consecrated by the Constitutional Council, Friday, October 11, while the rise in university fees, decided by decree, for foreign students (outside the European Union) arouses the ire of the community university for almost a year.

Following a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) invoked by a group of student and professional associations last July, the Sages have decided. In their decision, they found "unprecedented" that "the constitutional requirement of free admission applies to public higher education", thus questioning the increase in registration fees decided by the executive in November 2018 for non-EU students.

Decision n ° 2019-809 QPC of 11/10/2019, Association National Union of law students, management, AES, economics, political and social sciences and other [Registration fees for access to public institutions of higher education ] https://t.co/mjIRw8OBMx pic.twitter.com/mHEOF6AuzN

Last September, only seven out of 75 universities decided to implement this principle of "differentiated rights". The increase brings to 2,770 euros the registration in license, and 3,770 euros the enrollment in master, against 170 and 243 euros for French and European students.

Other institutions, such as Clermont-Auvergne, Aix-Marseille, Toulouse Jean-Jaurès, Lyon 2 (Light), Paris-Nanterre and Rennes 2, strongly opposed to the reform, stuck to the status quo . "We wanted to avoid the use of differentiated rights as far as possible by deciding to exonerate all those who were to be subject," said Nathalie Dompnier, president of the University Lyon 2, contacted by France 24. As she, the major part of the French universities have used the breach of a decree dating from 2013 allowing them to exempt 10% of their students so as not to have to increase the registration fees of extra-community students.

"Personally, I am in expectation", she reacts to the decision of the Constitutional Council. "The assertion of free admission including for higher education is a decisive element for the future, certainly, but there are still big questions, especially around the 'modest' registration fees announced in the decision."

A "modest" sum that questions

The Constitutional Council states that "this requirement does not preclude, for this level of education, that low tuition fees are levied taking into account, where appropriate, the financial capacity of students."

On this point, opponents of rising university fees remain skeptical. Opposed to the increase in registration fees, Nathalie Dompnier, whose university is attended by 18% of non-EU students, wonders: "Does 'modest' mean the 170 or 243 euros currently in force? for all students, or is it something else? "

After hailing a "historic" decision allowing to have "solid bases" to "advance the cause of foreign students", Mélanie Luce, president of the National Union of Students of France (UNEF), the main student union explains to her that "the battle is now on the definition of what means 'modest'.

"I hope we will not consider that 3,770 euros is a small sum," she says. "It's a sum that can do all the university year, or more, to a student to restore.No student aid would cover this amount, and that's much more than anyone can receive through housing aid. "

Important victory for the students • ajd: the education sup is very free contrary to what defended @sup_recherche before the @Conseil_constit. It is now necessary to recognize that the fees provided by #Welcome toFrance are not "modest". # OnLacheraPas https://t.co/hv8AjJVcLi

"We can not leave any latitude to the government"

The Sages have also made the choice to leave the executive the faculty to set the amount of registration fees alone. Good news for the associations. "With this constitutional safeguard, it will no longer be [possible] for the executive to make a widespread and significant increase in tuition fees in higher education," said the Unef, Snesup-FSU , Solidaires or FO.

"It was precisely the spirit of the 1951 law to keep tuition fees very low and limit their modulation," adds Mélanie Luce. "We can not leave any latitude to the government, and we must not let it take and publish orders by stealth without public debate in the National Assembly and the Senate," she insists.

It is now up to the Council of State to decide what will happen to non-EU students. The highest administrative court is expected to decide within a few months, and its decision is expected by associations and unions for the first quarter of 2020.

"In the meantime, we are asking universities to maintain the exemption of registration fees for foreign students this year and next year," explains Mélanie Luce, adding that the increase in tuition fees is subject to a "very big disavowal" of the university community. "No one in the universities has supported this measure: neither university presidents, nor students, nor teachers, nor staff," she adds, inviting all of these actors to hold on . "Whether by legal decision or by decision of the government, we want to obtain the annulment of this decree and the abandonment of discriminatory measures."

For her part, Nathalie Dompnier, who recently went to a round table organized in Lyon by associations of foreign students, ensures that the mobilization is still strong. "This decision is a first not insignificant step," she concedes, "but it is too early to claim victory."