Our dreams do not fit into a Parcoursup box", "Parcoursup, national factory of anxiety", "Our future is not an algorithm"… Since the start of the mobilization, the post-baccalaureate orientation platform has crystallized anger. The mobilized youth are demanding the pure and simple removal of the system to "allow high school students to access training in the sector of their choice without being subject to algorithmic selection", according to the proposal presented by the Student Union union.
In response, the Minister of Higher Education Philippe Baptiste announced, Monday October 26, the replacement of Parcoursup from the start of the 2027 school year. But by what? Will it simply be a modification of the “name, the interface, and two or three little bits and pieces”, as feared by a student questioned about the blockade of a high school in Aubervilliers? Or will the change be more profound and structural? If this is the case, how can we allocate limited places to ever-increasing numbers of high school graduates?
At the National Assembly, Wednesday October 28, Philippe Baptiste submits to deputies the issues of the future tool during a debate without a vote: “What do we really want? An assumed selection or a total absence of selection?" he asks.
“Parcoursup today constitutes more of a regulation and selection tool than an orientation support platform. It's a tool for managing the shortage," denounced the socialist deputy for Loire Pierrick Courbon during the debate. Indeed, according to the national higher education union (Snesup-FSU) which analyzed the data extracted from Parcoursup, the number of places offered on the platform is decreasing. Between 2025 and 2026, 10,300 fewer places were recorded, a drop that the union explains by the lack of funding.
According to official figures, among the high school students who passed their baccalaureate last June, more than 90% of high school students who expressed wishes, or 603,910 students, received at least one offer of admission. About 57,000 high school students got nothing.
Create places for everyone on higher education benches?
For Green MP Jean-Claude Raux, all high school graduates should be able to access higher education. He advocates “a right of access to the first cycle for all baccalaureate holders, with priority in their academy”. The measure is also supported by La France insoumise, which defends "the opening of 150,000 additional places in higher education, the increase in resources allocated to public establishments and the possibility for any high school graduate to enroll in the training of their choice as the constitution provides." The preamble to the Constitution states that “the Nation guarantees equal access for children and adults to education, professional training and culture”. Student and high school organizations involved in the protest movement are pleading for “training accessible to all candidates” and demanding “the creation of 250,000 additional places”.
For Hélène Boulanger, vice-president of France Universités, the association which brings together the management of public establishments, this request is not realistic. “We are limited in the number of rooms, chairs, teachers,” she explains on franceinfo. She also underlines that the report on the foundations of university financing forecasts a deficit of two billion euros for French universities by 2030, "probably requiring drastic measures to limit the offer of training and research activities as well as an increase in costs".
In response to the mobilization of youth, the government took a first step to try to respond to the shortage: the opening of 15,000 places, mainly oriented towards professional sectors and in the Ile-de-France region. This effort was considered insufficient by many young people, who decided to continue the mobilization.
“Too many young people enter university and fail,” judges Laurence Garnier. This Les Républicains senator worked as rapporteur on a commission of inquiry entitled “Universities: assuming excellence”. Its conclusions, delivered in September, seem to go against the grain of the aspirations expressed by young people. Among the recommendations: “put an end to the right of access to higher education for baccalaureate holders”.
Favor better professional integration?
According to INSEE, in 2024, almost half of workers will have a level of education less than or equal to the baccalaureate. In addition, according to data from the Ministry of Higher Education, 47% of students enrolled in L1 in 2019 did not obtain any diploma five years later. “If we open 250,000 places, we will create diplomas with no prospect of employment commensurate with the qualifications,” assures Laurence Garnier to franceinfo. The elected official denounces “a form of hypocrisy in the system” which fuels “frustration and anger”.
“We lie to young people when we integrate them into university, while we precipitate some of them towards failure.”
Laurence Garnier, senator Les Républicains de Loire-Atlantique
at franceinfo
“Our objective is not 100% of young high school graduates at university, but 100% of young people with a job and a future,” she explains, also ensuring that selection based on academic performance is essential to guarantee the professional integration of all students.
“Obviously we are aware of the challenges of tomorrow,” reacts Joseph Raimbault, representative of the High School Union, who claims to defend the creation of places in courses which offer the most opportunities. “We must seize this opportunity to adapt the system to the world of tomorrow with artificial intelligence and new technologies, while highlighting manual professions, because that is the future.”
“We are not saying that everyone must study medicine or law, but we must create places to guarantee the possibility of choice.”
Joseph Raimbault, student member of the High School Union
at franceinfo
The union plans to publish a document listing the different sectors in which it considers the creation of places to be a priority. Furthermore, a reflection committee on the new post-baccalaureate platform will soon bring together high school students and teachers alongside the ministers concerned.
