Achieve the democratisation of higher education : the challenge of the first cycle

Over and above training and research, higher education plays a major role in the guidance and professional future of a very large number of young people. In our country, employability is strongly dependent upon the level of qualification, and future roles in society are essentially decided, too often irreversibly, at the end of the initial training period.

The higher education landscape is also characterised by its heterogeneity: vocational training courses (licences to exercise a trade, BTS vocational training certificates, DUT University Technical Diplomas, post-baccalaureate establishments) have developed alongside traditional channels (classic university and college disciplines) and many have opted for a selective recruitment method. In practice, these different paths offer opportunities for success and present very unequal risks of failure and dropout. Universities are virtually the only higher education institutions today which are open to everyone post-baccalaureate. But the means available to them in terms of educational support are proportionately much inferior to those of other options.