Autumn press conference 2023: following-up students, supporting researchers and boosting cooperation agreements

First, she reminded that “in a complex, yet changing and competitive international landscape, France must stay a major scientific nation and a land of innovation”. She was determined to define her vision and present the major orientations to come.

For equal chance

Issues debated include the actions of social follow-up deployed by the French government. To “ensure equal success conditions for students”, the ministry announced “an improvement of the follow-up process already in place”.
Indeed, in addition to a new valuation of scholarships and an increase of the number of holders, the year 2023 will see the continuation of the price cap for restaurants and accommodation for all students, both national and international. Actions target all aspects of student life (accommodation, restaurants, health) as early as the start of academic year:

• extension of a “very social price” of meals for scholarship holders and students in financial precariousness;
• freezing the price of meals for the university restaurants year (“very social price” at 1€, and at 3.3€ for all the other students);
• rent freeze in CROUS university residences;
• new valuation of APL (accommodation subsidies) scheme of 1.6% on 1st April 2023.

Facilitated access to orientation

Since the Student Orientation and Success (ORE, Orientation et à la Réussite des étudiants) law of 2018, support to orientation was improved and is “a priority of the Government to the service of the continuity of studies in the next study cycle”.

In this context, the Parcoursup process improved its information content (more than 22,500 training courses offered), the new national platform Mon Master has “already improved access to Master’s course for more students than in the past” says the ministry. Mon Master, a platform for information and application in 1st year of Master course, directly puts in touch applicants and training courses. This leads to a simplification of application processes with a one-stop desk, a single schedule and dematerialised process. So, on 6 September, 156,010 applicants received an admission offer, i.e. 10,000 more than last year.

Another important point in terms of orientation: the improvement of the transparency of higher studies plans “thanks to a clearer and more readable vision of private higher education”. Deeming necessary to improve “the role of the government to better identify and qualify private study courses for young students in initial training”, the ministry decided to implement a quality seal specifically recognising training courses adapted to these young students, in terms of education and follow-up of their academic study plan, and construction of their professional project.

Research at the heart of higher education

As the ministry points out, “the strength of French universities and higher education institutions lies in synergies between training courses, research and innovation”. Students and teachers-researchers are thus placed “at the heart of French research labs and take part in the training of young people for and by research”.

Thanks to the research programming law, in France, funding of research is increasing sharply, including in regards of doctors and doctorates. In concrete terms, according to the latest statistics, the number of graduate doctors has increased by 2% in 2022 to 13,900. Steps were taken to allow for a better recognition of the doctorate, including:

• the creation of a doctoral contract of private law and a posdoc contract;
• a 20% increase of the number of doctoral contracts funded by the ministry;
• a 30% increase of salaries for new doctoral contracts;
• a 50% increase by 2027 of the number of industrial conventions for training by research (CIFRE).

European dynamics

An additional important point: the globalisation of French higher education. According to the ministry, French higher education and research are also at the heart of international and European trends.

France is the driving force of the European Universities project. Since 2017, 50 European universities are grouped as alliances of higher education institutions. These new institutions “are a complementary brick to the construction of European higher education space”, which objective is to ensure that higher education systems in Europe are compatible and that students, researchers and university scholars in Europe may work together, study or work easily abroad.

With these 50 French institutions mobilised, France is “one of the most committed European countries in the initiative of European Universities”, as the ministry points out.

A country open on the world

Last point taken into account in the press release, in line with the previous one: international attractiveness. As the ministry also points out, France is historically open on the world regarding higher education and research. So “there are many cooperation agreements, and its academic excellence is recognised abroad”, particularly thanks to four factors reminded and detailed by the ministry:

• world-class teaching: in the latest Shanghai ranking, France is at the 3rd rank worldwide, and the world’s best university in mathematics is French. In 2022, the Top 5 of best Masters’ courses in finance from the Financial Times was 100% French;
• a great nation for research and innovation: France is ranked 2nd worldwide for Fields medals (mathematics) and 4th for Nobel Prizes. In addition, France is also the 2nd most innovative European country (statistics from the European Patent Office);
•  a host country for international students: France is the 6th country for the reception of international students, and the 4th country of reception for international doctorate graduates, including thanks to the Bienvenue en France programme;
• a wide university and scientific cooperation: in relation with the diplomatic network, international cooperation agreements are developed “such as French-foreign campus or Hubert Curien Partnership agreements, seeking to boost mobilities and work between research teams”.