At the closing of the Conference of the University Chairperson, the President of the Republic unveiled his wishes for higher education for the coming years.
Le Monde with AFP
After its security proposals, here are those on the university. Less than three months of the presidential election, and although he has not yet unveiled his intentions for the next ballot, Emmanuel Macron has sketched his wishes for higher education, Thursday, January 13, at the closing of the Congress of The University Presidents Conference.
“I recognize him without ambages, we started clutching the breaches, but we have to redouble with effort so that, on ten years, our university is stronger,” he said . The head of state then questioned the double system large schools-universities. “We have too long accepted a multi-speed model, where large schools and research organizations were supposed to deal with the training of elites and the university democratization of higher education and the management of the masses. This system is over, “he launched, bet on the fact that” tomorrow it will be our universities who [should] be the pillars of excellence “.
Macron wants a” systemic transformation ”
During his videoconferencing speaking, Mr. Macron also denounced the “intolerable mess” of failure in the first year, where “only 50% of students present themselves to the exams”, despite the injection of new means and the creation of 84,000 places. According to him, it is not a question of means.
“We will not be able to remain sustainably in a system where higher education has no prizes for almost all students, where one third of the students are considered scholarships and wherever we have so much student precariousness, And a difficulty finance a model much more funded by public money than around the world, “he argued.
“I say things with the clarity and frankness you know me” because “if we do not solve these structural problems, we will feel to ourselves,” he continued. And chain: “We need a systemic transformation of our universities.”
“The university must become more professionalizing”
These must, in his opinion, have more autonomy, but the state will have to pass with them “real contracts of objectives and means”. In particular, “universities should not only guarantee the reception of students in training but to guarantee the orientation of young people to employment”.
“The university must become more professionalizing”, still wished the head of state: “The logic of the offer must take precedence over the logic of the request”, or “guidance” must evolve to better match the needs of the nation “. “When we open sectors without perspective behind, we drive an investment at a loss,” he said, after reminding the new means – 25 billion euros over five years – the research program law, “A catch-up” in his eyes.