the establishment called to order after a “circumvention” of Parcoursup rules

The private school is accused of having influenced the choice of wishes of its students in exchange for the “guarantee of admission” to prep. Its management claims that “no one is harmed”.

The Stanislas private school was called to order on a “bypass” of Parcoursup rules, the Ministry of Higher Education announced on Sunday January 21, confirming information from Mediapart. The investigative site claims that the son of the Minister of Education, Amélie Oudéa-Castera, is concerned.

A report unveiled this week by the online media notes that in Stanislas, “certain students are encouraged to renounce their other wishes in Parcoursup” in exchange for the “guaranteed admission” in preparatory class for the Grandes Ecoles (CPGE).

The survey highlights that the practice is “very isolated” among high schools with CPGE: “In 2023, out of more than 600,000 high school students who made wishes in Parcoursup, there are only 41 candidates who made only one wish” for a CPGE in the establishment where they were in their final year, and “38 are students of Stanislas”.

Stanislas denies any “insider trading”

According to Mediapart, the eldest son of the Minister of National Education, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, in turmoil for more than a week, is among these 38 students. The Ministry of Higher Education announced on Sunday that at the end of its investigations, the general inspectorate “sent a letter in August reporting this circumvention” at the Parisian establishment.

Stanislas’ director, Frédéric Gautier, said on Sunday on BFMTV that “no one is wronged”. Stanislas’s students decide “themselves” of the choice they make and “there is plenty of room for all the other students who want to apply, so there is no insider trading”, he assured. On franceinfo, the director of the CPGE of the establishment also contested any “desire to conceal”.

“If we have to do otherwise, we will do otherwise, but we do not have the feeling of harming students who come from outside or of deceiving our own students”he insisted, while his establishment is also under fire for criticism concerning “drifts” and could see its funding suspended.