higher education selection in France, USA News (France): “We are the least selective country of all OECD countries” regarding access to higher education, stated Philippe Baptiste, the Minister of Higher Education, on Thursday, October 29, on franceinfo. “I am willing for us to be even less selective. But it is starting to get complicated,” he added when questioned about Parcoursup. This post-high-school orientation platform, accused of sorting students, has crystallized criticism since the beginning of high school student mobilizations. The government has promised to replace it in 2028, following a “strong evolution” toward greater transparency in 2027.
Proposal Does Not Mean Enrollment
The argument put forward by the Minister of Higher Education is based on a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to this study, France actually displayed in 2024 “the highest acceptance rate among 20 countries, with 95% of candidates being offered a place in a higher education program.”
“This figure is exact but does not prove that France is the least selective country,” nuances economist Julien Grenet, deputy director of the Institute of Public Policies (IPP). “It measures the share of candidates who obtain at least one offer, whatever it may be, not the selectivity of the training programs, nor the fact that candidates access the training they wish,” specifies this education specialist.
The OECD report also specifies that “candidates admitted to a higher education program do not always enroll in it.” In France, the share of admitted candidates “who actually enroll” reached 83% in 2024.
Students Failing in Their First Year
The OECD provides a second nuance: “Enrollment in a program does not necessarily lead to its successful completion.” A point that the Minister of Higher Education also highlighted on franceinfo, underlining the “limitless hypocrisy” of the system. Philippe Baptiste indeed lamented a selection process that does not take place post-baccalaureate but rather “in the first year of a bachelor’s degree.” At the end of this first year, “almost 1 in 2 students does not succeed,” he regretted. Indeed, according to a report by the Court of Auditors, in 2022, only 48% of first-year students passed into the second year.
Furthermore, in 2023, “only 34% of new enrollees in public universities [obtained] their bachelor’s degree within the theoretical duration of the program,” meaning in three years. These very low success rates make France a poor performer in this area, placed well below the average of OECD countries. Indeed, “the average graduation rate in public and private OECD institutions is 43% within the theoretical duration, reaching 59% after an additional year,” according to the organization’s report.
A Problem of Supply and Demand
To understand this high failure rate, one must look at the alignment of offers with the wishes of high school graduates, explains Julien Grenet. According to the economist, the global figure advanced by the minister on franceinfo “falsely gives the impression that candidates obtain the training they want when in reality, there is an enormous mismatch between supply and demand.” A significant portion of students from vocational and technological tracks thus fail to secure places in tracks adapted to their profiles, the economist points out.
According to the review of the Parcoursup admission procedure in 2026, 32,939 vocational high school graduates made at least one choice for a BTS (advanced technician certificate) and obtained no proposal in that type of training—representing one-third of them. Worse still, more than half of technological graduates (48,700 candidates) found themselves without a proposal in an IUT (university technology institute).
“Approximately 80,000 candidates without training adapted to their profile thus found themselves, against their will, having to give up higher education or enroll in bachelor’s degree programs where they have virtually no chance of succeeding,” stated Julien Grenet to franceinfo.
“A quarter of those who fail in bachelor’s programs are vocational and technological graduates who, for the vast majority, did not want to go there. They are moreover very numerous in asking for reorientation the following year,” details the deputy director of the IPP.
The OECD figure also conceals disparities in selection according to fields of study. Approximately 17% of vocational graduates and 8% of technological graduates received no proposal, according to figures from the Ministry of Higher Education. Conversely, only 2.4% of general track graduates found themselves without a proposal. These data also hide geographical disparities: “In Île-de-France, 28% of vocational graduates received no proposal,” recounts Julien Grenet.
In reality, the French selection system is “dual,” estimates the economist: “It is generally possible to get a place in a bachelor’s program. But selective tracks, whether BTS, DUT, preparatory classes, or post-baccalaureate schools, face enormous tension and are very selective.”
