“You don’t have to censor yourself”, assured Tuesday March 29 on franceinfo Jérôme Teillard, project manager in charge of Parcoursup at the Ministry of Higher Education. Final year students and first year students who wish to reorient themselves have until midnight Tuesday to express their wishes on the online post-baccalaureate orientation platform Parcoursup. Nearly 20,000 state-recognized training courses are offered there. He recalls that “more than 94% of high school students had had at least one admission proposal”in 2021.
franceinfo: Do you understand that this is a stressful time for high school students or young people who are reorienting themselves, with the fear of being on the waiting list or not being taken anywhere?
Jerome Teillard: Of course, I understand that. There is a choice to be made and, from there, there is necessarily stress. But I want to reassure high school students. First element, we do not ask them to classify the wishes, we do not ask them to prioritize. I think that’s important because it means you don’t have to censor yourself. Make the wishes that interest you. The second element given by the 2021 procedure is that more than 94% of high school students had had at least one admission offer. These are elements that are likely to reassure each of the high school students and their parents. Moreover, we are not alone on Parcoursup. You have all the means to ask questions: a toll-free number, social networks, contact messaging directly in your file… Parcoursup is a platform with a group of men and women who contribute to supporting these high school students. I also want to pay tribute to the work that is done in high schools: the head teachers, the National Education psychologists, the principals… They are the ones who are next to the high school students and who help them get through this stage.
In 2020, because of Covid-19, the baccalaureate took place in continuous assessment. So there were more applicants. Have we returned to the same level of registration as before in 2022?
It is still too early to tell. We can observe that there was a stability in the demographics of high school students in the final year. We’ll see what happens. I believe that we must always bear in mind that the platform necessarily attracts a lot of candidates because it offers more than 19,500 training courses, with a great diversity. You can also find all the apprenticeship training courses there. I think it meets a real expectation of high school students who want to diversify their choices and with Parcoursup, we give them the means to make these diversified choices.
Psychology and law are, for example, sectors in tension. Are there more this year?
It is too early to tell as the candidates have not yet completed their vows. However, we know that there is a very great stability. The licenses occupy nearly 30% of the wishes, a third of the high school students are interested. There are also very targeted training courses such as nursing training. This is the most requested training on Parcoursup. I cannot draw up a classification today since the wishes are not formulated, but one can obviously suspect that very active formations today will undoubtedly remain so tomorrow.
Will some again this year – unfortunately often those whose files are the worst – will have to wait until September to find out where they are taken?
Remember that at the end of the procedure, last year, 239 high school students had not been able to find a solution. But obviously, most high school students find solutions well before, through the wishes they have formulated, the additional phase open from June 23 and which allows them to make new wishes on training courses that have vacant places. In addition, all the rectorates are mobilizing from the beginning of July to find places. Each year, we make efforts to speed up the procedure and try to respond as best and as quickly as possible to all high school students who make offers. I want to reassure them. It’s normal to have anxiety about this device because you have to make choices. We are going to leave high school for another environment. But the platform and the teams are there to support you, find all the information and bring you peace of mind at the time of your choice.