Parcoursup, continued: Matignon announces its replacement in 2028, the promised places still need funding

What was announced on Monday

The government has finally responded to the anger of high school students. On Monday 26 October, at Matignon, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, flanked by Education Minister Édouard Geffray and Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste, presented a set of measures after more than a month of mobilisation that began on 17 September in a high school in the Paris region, as AFP recalls.

The flagship measure concerns Parcoursup. According to LCP, the platform will be reformed for the 2027 session and then replaced in 2028. According to L'Express Éducation, the 2027 round will see the cover letter become the exception, every rejection will have to be explained, selection criteria will be published in more detail and a transparency committee including high school students will be set up in each education authority. The future system is to be defined by a committee bringing together students and teachers, and a bill is to be presented this winter. Minister Philippe Baptiste reportedly acknowledged himself that its adoption before the end of the presidential term remains uncertain.

The rest of the package is substantial. Again according to L'Express Éducation, the government is promising up to 15,000 additional places in higher education at the start of the 2027 academic year (10,000 in BTS, 4,000 in IUT, 1,000 in health), tenth-grade classes capped at 28 pupils in the half of public high schools serving the least advantaged pupils from 2027, then everywhere in 2028, 500 posts written into the 2027 budget, 1 billion euros for universities and 4 billion in low-interest loans via the Caisse des dépôts to renovate high schools and middle schools. Means-tested grants would be indexed to inflation from 2027. Several of these measures will go through amendments to the budget currently under discussion.

Finally, the Minister for Relations with Parliament, Laurent Panifous, announced a debate on student guidance on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in the National Assembly. As LCP points out, it will be held under Article 50-1 of the Constitution, which means it may not lead to any vote.

Mixed reactions

The President of the Republic, speaking from Marseille, called the students' demands "legitimate", LCP reports. Received at Matignon, high school and university student organisations welcome a first step without suspending the movement.

Not everything has been satisfied yet and we will see it through — Louis Letoublon, Les Lycéens !

Two new days of mobilisation are still planned on 31 October and 5 November, the latter called by the trade unions. The Union syndicale lycéenne was demanding the immediate abolition of Parcoursup, whereas the government chose a gradual replacement. According to LCP, high school and student unions also denounced the "contempt" of receiving influencers before them. According to AFP, it was in fact influencers specialising in education who revealed the first measures. On the teachers' side, the general secretary of Snes-FSU, Sophie Vénétitay, believes that "billions" will have to be put on the table.

University presidents, gathered in France Universités, had warned on Sunday against a hasty disappearance of the platform without an alternative. According to AFP, they called for distinguishing the tool from the cuts in resources, which they hold responsible for the strain on entry to higher education.

In the presidential campaign, positions differ, as LCP sums up: Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to abolish Parcoursup, Raphaël Glucksmann to replace it after consultation, Bruno Retailleau proposes a new merit-based platform, Marine Le Pen calls for more transparency, Édouard Philippe, under whose government the tool was created in 2018, acknowledges its shortcomings, and Gabriel Attal argues for better support for applicants.

A real gesture, the question of resources still open

It must be acknowledged: the government has listened. Smaller classes in the most disadvantaged high schools, grants protected from inflation, explained rejections, transparent criteria: these measures respond to demands for social justice and equal opportunity that young people have been voicing for years. Supporters of a more openly selective system will object that the government is giving in to the street and that an imperfect tool is better than a leap into the unknown. The argument deserves to be heard, and France Universités makes it seriously.

But the university presidents also say what matters most: the problem has never been only the algorithm. A platform, whatever it is, allocates places; it does not create them. Yet 15,000 places, funded by an amendment to a budget whose adoption remains uncertain, weigh little against the needs put forward by student organisations, which are calling for 250,000 places, according to AFP. Their estimate is debatable, but the gap shows the scale of the task.

Then there is the method. Announcing a replacement in 2028 while admitting that the law might not pass before the end of the term means handing the question to the next president. And holding a debate without a vote deprives the nation's representatives of the chance to commit. A Republic that takes its young people seriously owes them more than a consultation.

Committing Parliament, not just informing it

Wednesday's debate can be more than a listening exercise. The government could enshrine in a programming law, passed before the presidential election, a multi-year trajectory of places and posts in higher education, with an annual review before Parliament. That would be the best guarantee that the promise made to high school students survives the elections. The question is now put to the groups in the Assembly: will they agree to turn a debate without a vote into a costed commitment?

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence.