in Limoges, around thirty students and high school students are mobilizing

Megaphone in hand, students and high school students went around Limoges to say “no to a selective university reserved for the elites.”

On January 13, the words of President Emmanuel Macron addressed to the congress of the Conference of University Presidents (CPU) revived the debates. He evoked a systemic reform of the university, making it more professional and profitable because for him, France cannot “not stay permanently in a system where higher education is priceless for almost all students, where a third of students are considered scholarship holders, and yet where we have so much student insecurity, and difficulty in financing a model much more financed by public money than anywhere in the world.”

We’re tired of all these announcements

“The university must remain free for all”, says Adeline, 18, a first-year sociology student in Limoges. “We are tired of these announcements. I have already suffered the consequences of these new selection systems with Parcoursup. In high school, I had an average of 18, and yet I had no real choice. I am originally from Maine-et-Loire, and I was only accepted here, 250 km from my family. With these reforms, we are moving towards segregation between young people to enter a bachelor’s degree, then a master’s degree.

An increase in fees for foreign students

In addition, the government has announced an upcoming increase in university fees for foreign students. It will soon be necessary to count 2770 euros for a year of license and 3770 euro in master and doctorate. So far, foreign students residing outside the European Union pay the same fees as French and European students, ie 170 euros per year and 243 euros for a master’s and a doctorate. Aaron, an Irish student at the University of Letters in Limoges, is therefore not concerned by the increase in these fees, but has come to show his support: “I see how difficult it is already for me, a European student, to pay for everything, so I can’t imagine the other foreign students. It’s a hassle, and I’m sad for them.”