30 août 2012

Par La Page de l'Emploi. On a récemment vu apparaître des méthodes de recrutement « sans CV » au sein d’entreprises telles que l’ING Entertainment, leader mondial du jeu vidéo. Le processus de recrutement se joue alors purement sur les compétences et non plus sur des éléments tels que la formation ou l’expérience. Certains y voient déjà la fin annoncée du CV; nous parlerons dans un premier temps d’une révolution.
Si les entreprises du secteur informatique et des nouvelles technologies peuvent se permettre de recruter sans CV à travers des ateliers visant à tester les compétences techniques des candidats, la grande majorité des recruteurs continuent d’exiger une candidature classique (CV + lettre de motivation) en réponse à leurs offres. La fin du CV dans le processus global du recrutement semble par conséquent assez loin, même s’il est indéniable que le modèle du CV type tend à évoluer de plus en plus rapidement.
Dans des secteurs comme l’assistanat, la logistique, les fonctions RH ou juridiques, le CV classique au format A4 reste de mise. On observe cependant depuis plusieurs années déjà une réelle révolution du CV dans les secteurs plus « malléables » de la communication, du marketing, des Relations Publiques ou du Commerce.
Parmi les dernières tendances, l’intégration des profils en ligne dans son CV. De plus en plus de candidats insèrent ainsi l’URL de leur profil LinkedIn ou Viadeo, de leur CV en ligne sur DoYouBuzz voire de leurs profils personnels Facebook et Twitter. Les recruteurs ne s’y trompent pas et consultent de plus en plus ces réseaux sociaux dans le cadre de leurs recherches. CV en ligne et recherches Google (mentions du nom du candidat) viennent compléter le processus. Pour justifier la pertinence d’une telle démarche, on invoque en général une plus grande crédibilité et plus de pertinence. Prenons l’exemple de LinkedIn: il semble plus difficile de fournir des informations erronées sur son profil, visible de tous y compris de son ancien employeur ou de ses anciens collègues (qui éventuellement auront accepté de se porter garants des informations citées en recommandant le candidat) que sur son CV.
Autres tendances du moment: l’insertion de flash codes (pointant vers un profil en ligne par exemple) ou la rédaction de CV sous forme d’infographie. De telles pratiques permettent de mettre en avant certaines compétences techniques et de se démarquer en fonction du poste visé.
La lettre de motivation, adaptée au poste sollicité, démontre un intérêt pour une offre et une entreprise en particulier et reste appréciée par les recruteurs. Bien rédigée, elle saura venir appuyer le CV et renforcer la candidature soumise.
Source: Article du 16.07.2011, Recruiter.com (EN).

Le quotidien britannique The Guardian a publié début août une carte européenne des coupes dans les budgets de la culture. Elle présente les musées, les théâtres ou encore les universités dont le budget a été réduit à cause de la crise.
Ce projet, mené en collaboration avec cinq autres quotidiens européens (dont Le Monde), dresse ainsi un bilan alarmant de l'état de la culture en Europe.
D'un soupçon à la réalisation de la carte
Ils avaient déjà collaboré ensemble pour la réalisation de deux numéros spéciaux autour de l'Europe. Cette fois-ci, The Guardian, Le Monde, El Paìs, La Stampa, Gazeta Wyborcza et Süddeutsche Zeitung ont réuni leurs rédactions pour mettre en place un projet de "data journalism". Grâce à l'outil informatique fourni par le moteur de recherche Google (la fameuse Google map), les internautes peuvent insérer dans la carte toutes les institutions culturelles dont les fonds ont été réduits pendant les derniers mois.
Des données en cours d'analyse 
La rédaction du Guardian n'a pas encore commencé à analyser les données soumises par les internautes. "La deuxième étape de ce projet consiste évidemment en la vérification et l'étude des données", affirme Mark Rice-Oxley. "Pour l'instant, il est difficile de tirer des conclusions précises, mais nous avons déjà remarqué des tendances intéressantes", poursuit le journaliste, "personnellement, je ne m'attendais pas à voir un nombre si important d'universités et d'écoles parmi la liste des institutions culturelles en difficulté. En outre, les internautes nous ont envoyé des commentaires très critiques contre leurs gouvernements. Souvent ils étaient carrément en colère et cela aussi m'a surpris".
D'autres tendances visibles sur la carte restent pour l'instant sans explication précise. Dans certains pays par exemple le nombre des contributions est très bas. C'est le cas de la France, de la Grèce et des plusieurs pays de l'Europe de l'Est. "Il est difficile de dire si cela reflète la bonne santé des institutions culturelles nationales ou si simplement il n'y a pas encore assez de contributions", commente M. Rice-Oxley.
En automne, la carte sera publiée dans le nouveau numéro de "Europa", le magazine spécial réalisé simultanément par les six quotidiens européens. Pour l'instant, et en attendant que le Guardian termine l'analyse des données, on peut déjà observer une carte de l'Europe décidément très alarmante. Plus...

Au lieu de regarder le dernier clip de Carly Rae Jepsen sur YouTube, regardez plutôt le dernier numéro des rendez-vous pour l’emploi co-réalisé par par Pôle Emploi et France 2.
Aux manettes Sophie Pignal, journaliste à Télé Matin, présente le parcours de Jean-Jacques, 50 ans originaire de Bourg en Bresse. De son usine de plasturgie à l’ouverture de son pub, Jean-Jacques a bénéficié tout au long de sa reconversion du soutien de Pôle Emploi aussi bien pour trouver les aides financières que pour déployer une méthodologie commerciale.

How much do pupils know about the new university fees structure and could an awareness campaign make a positive impact? Gill Wyness reveals LSE's research findings.
Many people point to the fall in 2012/13 applications to English universities as evidence that students have been put off applying because of the near trebling of tuition fees. In theory, however, no-one should be put off by this change. Fees will now be deferred and paid back gradually after university, once a graduate is earning a good wage. And there are generous maintenance loans and grants on offer, meaning everyone, regardless of background, should be able to afford upfront to go to university.
But how many potential students actually understand this new payment structure? So far there is little evidence of whether young people making important decisions about university actually understand how much it costs, how and when they have to pay, and crucially, whether the financial benefits outweigh the costs.
A team of researchers at the LSE, led by Professor Sandra McNally, undertook a study aiming to find out what school pupils know about the costs and benefits of going to university and the potential impact on their knowledge and aspirations of an 'information campaign'. Our study took place in the 2010-11 academic year with 54 participating London schools. In each school, we surveyed all year 10 pupils (14-15 year olds) – around 12,000 took part in total.
An initial survey questioned pupils about their knowledge of the costs and benefits of higher education, after which some schools were given an information package, including access to a website, leaflets, a video and a presentation about staying in education. Other schools were given the package only eight to 12 weeks later, after all participants had completed a second survey. Both surveys took place at the time when the increase in tuition fees was announced. Results therefore reflect not only the impact of the information campaign but also the short-term impact of media reporting of the fee increase.
The survey revealed large gaps in pupil knowledge about the costs and benefits of higher education. For example, less than half of pupils knew that fees are paid after university, and once they have a job, while fewer than half regarded student loans as a "cheaper/better way to borrow money than other types of borrowing". Furthermore, around a quarter of pupils held the view that going to university was "too expensive".
Media reporting around the time of the fees hike improved pupils' knowledge of how much university would cost but also increased the negative perceptions of affordability, with a significant increase in the proportion who thought university was too expensive. This increase was greater among pupils from comprehensive schools compared with those from independent schools.
Results also suggested that misperceptions over the costs and impact of the fee increase can be easily corrected with an information campaign. Pupil attitudes changed considerably in response to the information package, which stressed the availability of grants and how loans can be repaid rather than focusing on the fee increase per se. As well as improving student knowledge about the benefits of higher education – something lacking in the media focus – the campaign significantly reduced negative perceptions of affordability across the board.
Previous research has shown that factors determining whether pupils go on to university are largely set before they finish their compulsory education at the end of Year 11. We should not be waiting until exams have been sat and subject choices made before ensuring that pupils have the correct information on which to base their future decisions. Nor does the fact that careers information classes are not specifically resourced or required by government help create the right incentives for schools to raise their game.
Gill Wyness is an education researcher at LSE and research associate of the liberal think tank CentreForum.

By Steve Kolowich. That is how J.R. Reddig, a 61-year-old program director for a Virginia-based defense software contractor, described his classmates’ essays in Internet History, Technology and Security, a massive open online course (MOOC) the University of Michigan is offering through Coursera.
The course, which largely focuses on the history of cyber-infrastructure, is one of the first humanities courses run by Coursera, the largest MOOC provider. That means it is an early proving ground for Coursera’s peer-grading system -- the company’s answer to the challenge of running a course with tens of thousands of students and only one professor. For every essay they submit, students in the course have to read and evaluate four others written by their classmates.
“Did you learn from them?” asked Charles Severance, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, who is teaching the course. Severance is sitting with Reddig and eight other students in the basement of a modish downtown coffee shop here, where he has arranged an “office hours” meet-up -- one of several he has held in cities around the country. A miniature fountain babbled nearby. Ambient jazz trickled out of unseen speakers.
Reddig shook his head: “Umm, no… no.” Not about the essay topics, anyway. Mainly, Reddig said, he learned how to read past the spelling and grammar hiccups of non-English speakers and try to grade them based on their ideas. “I said, Well, O.K., you can’t apply an empiric standard to them,” said Reddig. “These people attempted to follow a thought, and so give them a 10.” More...

J. A. Aunión. Hace mucho tiempo que la internacionalización se convirtió en una palabra-mantra para las universidades: si quieres ser alguien en el mundo de la educación superior, tienes que tener muchos estudiantes extranjeros, también profesores e investigadores, proyectos en colaboración con otras partes del planeta, titulaciones conjuntas... Se trata de buscar, encontrar y atraer el talento allá donde esté, pero también de catar una parte de un atractivo negocio que mueve miles de millones de euros al año: distintas estimaciones hablan de que los alumnos extranjeros aportan unos 14.000 millones al año a la economía de EE UU (según la Association of International Educators) o 13.000 millones a la de Australia (cálculo del propio Gobierno).
Así, muchas universidades ya no se conforman con intentar atraer a los alumnos foráneos, sino que salen en su busca. “Los campus británicos tienen ya más estudiantes que cursan sus títulos fuera que dentro del Reino Unido”, asegura Maurits van Rooijen, rector de la Escuela de Negocios de Nyenroden (Holanda). Se trata de varios recursos distintos: oferta a distancia a través de Internet, de validación de títulos (que ha causado disgustos y escándalos sonados a alguna universidad), de franquicias y sucursales (branch campus). De estos últimos (que ofrecen títulos del campus matriz, sobre todo, en Estados en vías de desarrollo), había 200 en 67 países del mundo en 2011, 38 más que en 2009, según un trabajo del británico Observatorio para la Educación sin Fronteras.
Puede que, como señalan expertos como el profesor del Boston College Philip G. Altbach, se esté inflando una especie de burbuja universitaria alrededor de estas sucursales. O tal vez solo sean un paso previo hacia las “universidades multinacionales”, como señalan en un reciente trabajo los especialistas de la Universidad de Sydney Sean Gallaguer y Geoffrey Garrett. Preocupados porque la crisis y la creciente competencia internacional están haciendo que decrezca el dinero que gana Australia con los estudiantes extranjeros (sobre todo de Asia), han analizado a fondo la situación desde un punto de vista empresarial.
Y su análisis es que, igual que Apple diseña en EE UU, construye en China con componentes hechos en Alemania, Japón, Reino Unido y vende después sus productos en todo el mundo, las universidades van a empezar a hacer algo muy parecido. Por ejemplo, a utilizar sedes en “los países en desarrollo para investigar, porque es más barato construir buenas infraestructuras y contratar a personal cualificado”, o “a diseñar títulos especialmente dirigidos para el mercado local”, aventuran. Es decir, creen que habrá una especie de deslocalización de los campus más potentes del mundo, como ocurre desde hace muchas décadas con las empresas. “En la globalización es más común trasladar el producto que trasladar al consumidor”, comenta por correo electrónico Van Rooijen, que también preside el Grupo de Compostela, una asociación que reúne a 70 instituciones de todo el mundo, incluida la gallega que da nombre al grupo.
El estudio australiano pone dos ejemplos principales: la universidad de Duke y la de Nueva York —ambas estadounidenses y privadas— que, a través de acuerdos con campus y Gobiernos locales, intentan “educar e investigar en todo el mundo, aprovechando nuevas fuentes de talento académico, de financiación, y mercados estudiantiles de una manera muy parecida a la que las corporaciones multinacionales hacen con las cadenas mundiales de suministro y distribución”, argumentan Gallaguer y Garrett en su trabajo. En ambos casos tienen en marcha proyectos, en colaboración con Gobiernos y universidades locales (que toman la mayor parte del riesgo financiero) en China y Shanghái, de sedes que ofrecerán títulos de los campus matrices, exactamente iguales, pero con mayor implicación que con los branch campus, que son más baratos, pero más difíciles de controlar en cuanto a su calidad, añaden Geoffrey y Garrett.
La Universidad de Nueva York (NYU) lleva años abriendo sucursales en todo el mundo: tiene 12 centros en seis continentes y tres sedes principales: en Nueva York, Abu Dabi y Shanghái (esta última abrirá el año que viene). Su rector, Jonh Sexton, acepta gran parte de la argumentación de los especialistas australianos, pero rechaza que su motivación sea eminentemente financiera. “No podemos hablar por otras universidades, pero podemos decir que la transformación de NYU en una universidad global en red es por razones académicas, no comerciales. Nuestra idea central es enriquecer la investigación y el aprendizaje de nuestros estudiantes”, señala por correo electrónico.
Van Rooijen insiste en esta idea: “Las universidades tienen una agenda más amplia. Por ejemplo, Westminster puso en marcha hace 10 años la Universidad Internacional de Tashkent en Asia Central, en Uzbequistán, porque encajaba con su misión (ofrecer educación de gran calidad a aquellos que reunan los méritos suficientes) y porque les permite acceder a una fuente de talento que de otra manera no podría”.
En todo caso, ese modelo de universidades multinacionales también cuenta con serias dificultades, para empezar, legales. Estas son mucho mayores en el contexto europeo, con una fortísima preeminencia de campus públicos dependientes de los Estados. “Las universidades eminentemente públicas deberán buscar sus posibilidades en los márgenes legales”, los campus privados y las escuelas de negocios tienen más facilidades para empezar a recorrer esta senda, añade Van Rooijen. “Es evidente que pocas universidades europeas están metidas en esta carrera hacia la creación de sitios en el extranjero. Porque no tienen la mentalidad empresarial que se requiere, pero también porque no son tan atractivas en los países donde reside la demanda. Además, porque su enfoque está más en la cooperación que en la competición”, explica el experto europeo en universidades Guy Haug.
La profesora de la Universidad Rovira i Virgili Mercè Gisbert rechaza de plano que las universidades se conviertan en “multinacionales de la educación superior que ‘venden’ productos educativos y formativos y que intentan proyectar modelos universitarios como una forma encubierta de perpetuar la idea de la colonización”. Sin embargo, es consciente de que, “tal y como evoluciona la situación económica en España, y teniendo en cuenta que siempre hemos ido a la cola en temas de Educación y de I+D+i, quizá no queda más remedio que salir a buscar recursos fuera”.
En todo caso, parece que la idea de universidad multinacional aún le queda muy lejos a los campus españoles. “Creo que el concepto no está nada desencaminado, pero desde el punto de vista español es muy complicado. Las universidades españolas aún son muy poco internacionales”, dice el presidente del Consejo Directivo de IE University, Rafael Puyol, que forma parte del grupo de expertos nombrado por el Gobierno español para emitir un informe que fije el rumbo de la reforma universitaria.
Puyol considera que los campus deben antes de llegar hasta ahí recorrer un primer camino, mejorando sus flojas cifras de estudiantes y profesores internacionales y de docentes españoles formados en el extranjero: las universidades españolas tienen un 2% de alumnos extranjeros (sin contar el doctorado), frente a un 9% de Alemania o a un 21% de Australia, según datos de la OCDE. Los campus españoles han de darse mucha prisa, asegura Puyol; les va el futuro en ello. “Las universidades regionales y nacionales van a ir dejando de tener sentido”, opina, por lo que deben empezar buscando aquella área de la enseñanza o de la investigación que les ponga en el mapa internacionalmente.

By Professor Dr François Therin. RECENTLY, foreign universities such as the United Kingdom’s Heriot-Watt University and the University of Reading announced opening branch campuses in Malaysia. Several other universities also intend to expand their operations here, including Manipal University of India which plans to open a campus for up to 20,000 students. The news is hardly surprising as the Ministry of Higher Education has indicated that up to 25 foreign universities have applied to open branch campuses in the country.
Inevitably, it has triggered a strong reaction from the existing players, with some trying to convince the ministry that by allowing an overly large number of foreign branch campuses to operate, the competitive landscape would be adversely affected.
Such a reaction would be deemed quite normal in any industry, but it would be interesting to ponder whether it is reasonable or not. Firstly, let us look at some figures related to higher education in Malaysia. Currently, there are approximately 1.1 million tertiary students in Malaysia, including 500,000 pursuing bachelor’s degrees and 400,000 pursuing diplomas. Among the 1.1 million students, some 80,000 are international students with the majority representing five countries — China, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria and Yemen.
Yearly, the higher education sector sees an enrolment of 400,000 new students while 250,000 graduate from different universities throughout the country. These students are served by 21 public and 23 private universities, including five foreign branch campuses. They also come from 21 private higher education institutions with university college status. In fact, more than 20 other foreign universities are already actively operating in Malaysia through twinning programmes with the university colleges. So is it likely 25 new players would negatively affect the competitive landscape?
Clearly, Malaysia aims to become a higher education hub. Despite marketing higher education internationally much later than Singapore, it already has more international students, the number having doubled since 2006. The objective now is to reach 200,000 by 2020. Of course, many of the universities exist to diversify the sources as the current major ones could be subject to internal political changes, which could consequently affect the number of students sent to Malaysia. For example, Oman recently announced that it would send up to 4,000 students a year compared to only 400 in 2010.
Meanwhile, student intakes from India and Egypt, as well as neighbouring countries such as Thailand or Vietnam, are very low and have not met the forecasted numbers. For instance, there are only 1,400 students from India. In Malaysia, a bachelor’s degree has become the minimum requirement for one to land a first-time skilled job. Malaysia’s economy is doing very well and employers’ increased need for qualified staff has created a demand for more graduates, particularly from critical fields such as engineering, business and medicine.
There is a natural growth in the local student population. We can expect the population to continue to grow, and subsequently, a greater demand for universities to offer higher degrees. There are currently only 63,000 students pursuing studies at the master’s level and 21,000 at PhD level. Malaysia is making a clear stand on quality, though at the start of the internationalisation process, and as many other countries did, more importance was placed on quantity rather than quality. Take the recent issues in Vietnam, for example. Malaysia is now very carefully monitoring the quality of the existing institutions, both public and private, and is becoming more and more exacting when considering the applications of new players. The implementation of a very detailed and stringent rating system for the country’s universities, the Setara Rating System for Institutions of Higher Learning, is helping raise standards.
In the field of business, for example, public institutions have been asked to go for international accreditations such as Equis (European Quality Improvement System) and AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). Not compromising on quality will certainly convince local students to study within Malaysia rather than go overseas. Currently, around 80,000 Malaysians are studying abroad — 30,000 of them under scholarships and 50,000 self-sponsored.
This indirectly raises the attractiveness factor for international students to pursue their tertiary education in Malaysia, particularly those from countries where the number of higher education institutions is still too low to meet internal demand and/or where the move towards quality has not been effectively implemented. Therefore, I do not share the concerns of some of my colleagues on the competitive risk. On the contrary, I believe that more competition can help to strengthen the path towards better quality. It will also offer a wider choice for local and international students in Malaysia, and subsequently, reinforce the country’s vision of becoming an international education hub.
Professor Dr François Therin is the dean of the School of Business at Curtin Sarawak.

Blog Educpros de Pierre Dubois. La formation professionnelle continue contribue-t-elle réellement au développement des territoires? Question que je dois traiter à 9 heures 45, le mardi 4 septembre 2012, lors du colloque organisé à Châlons en Champagne par le Conseil économique, social et environnemental de Champagne-Ardenne (CESER). L’exposé sera suivi d’une table ronde: “la formation professionnelle, levier pour l’emploi dans les territoires”?
Présentation de la journée du CESER: “dans un contexte de création d’un réseau public régional de formation, de décentralisation de l’AFPA, de mise en œuvre du contrat de plan régional de développement des formations professionnelles et d’application de la loi du 24 novembre 2009 relative à l’orientation et à la formation tout au long de la vie, le CESER a décidé de traiter de la formation professionnelle continue autour de différentes thématiques: l’appareil de formation continue régional, les financements privés/publics, la liaison entre la formation et l’emploi, la gestion territoriale prévisionnelle de l’emploi et des compétences et la collaboration entre les différents acteurs”.
“La formation professionnelle continue (FPC) contribue-t-elle réellement au développement des territoires”? Plusieurs termes de la question font qu’elle n’est pas banale. “Développement des territoires”: le thème de la table ronde restreint le sens de “développement” et le limite au développement économique selon l’hypothèse qu’une population active formée tout au long de la vie acquiert davantage de compétences et de qualification, ce qui rend les entreprises plus performantes, plus compétitives sur le marché, ce qui leur permet de créer des emplois en plus grand nombre.
“Contribue” signifie que la FPC n’est pas le seul facteur de développement des territoires. L’adverbe “réellement” est particulièrement fort: il laisserait entendre que la FPC n’est que marginalement un facteur de développement des entreprises du territoire. Hypothèse iconoclaste!
J’invite les lecteurs du blog à débattre de la question, à émettre des hypothèses, à signaler des documents et des données… Je ne résiste pas à reprendre la blague qui circule dans les milieux de la formation continue: “il est certain qu’elle a créé des emplois, ceux des formateurs“.
Plus sérieusement, je me garderai bien de répondre à la question posée car il est impossible d’établir, faute d’expérimentations en laboratoire et de données statistiques étendues et fiables, que la FPC, toutes choses étant égales par ailleurs, est créatrice nette d’emplois sur un territoire donné, fut-il un territoire régional. Bien sûr, il est possible de suivre les trajectoires des personnes qui ont bénéficié ou qui bénéficieront de tel ou tel dispositif du contrat de plan régional 2011-2015 de développement des formations professionnelles (CPRDFP), d’évaluer la pertinence de ces dispositifs en terme d’accès à l’emploi, d’emplois retrouvés ou maintenus, de mobilités intra-régionales ou inter-entreprises…
Rappel de l’engagement 35 de François Hollande: “Je mettrai en place, en concertation avec les partenaires sociaux, la sécurisation des parcours professionnels, pour que chaque salarié puisse se maintenir dans l’entreprise ou l’emploi et accéder à la formation professionnelle. Le financement de la formation sera concentré sur les publics les plus fragiles, les moins formés et les chômeurs”.

See National student fee and support systems 2011/2012.
Key Points
FEES
Highest Fees
The highest fees are charged in the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Until 2012 they were set at £3 375 per year. As of September 2012, this level increased in England to a new basic tuition fee of £6 000 and a maximum of £9 000. Students in England receive a loan to pay the fees and do not have to re-pay this until they are in relatively well-paid employment. In Wales, however, the additional cost of tuition fees for Welsh domiciled students will be met by the Welsh government, even if they study outside Wales. Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, fees will rise only in line with inflation at £3465 in 2012/13.
No Fees
At the other end of the scale, there are 9 countries where students (not including international students from outside the EU/EEA) are not charged fees. They are Austria, Cyprus (bachelors' level), Denmark (though part-time students are charged), Finland, Greece and Malta (bachelors' level), Norway, Scotland (bachelors' level) and Sweden. In Germany, for the new academic year 2012/13, two Länder (Bavaria, and Lower Saxony) charge fees, while the other 14 do not.
Proportion of fee payers
The proportion of students who pay fees in each country ranges considerably. In a number of countries all students pay fees, and this is the case in Belgium (Flemish Community), Bulgaria, Czech Republic, England, Iceland, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey. In seven countries (Belgium's French Community, Estonia, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Romania) a majority pay fees. In four countries (Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, Slovenia), a minority pay fees, and finally there are the 9 countries mentioned above where no students pay at bachelor level (apart from part-time students in Denmark).
International student fees
For students coming from outside the European Union, fee levels tend to be higher. They are generally set by higher education institutions themselves, although in some countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Romania) there are central-level regulations governing fee levels. In 6 countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein and Norway) students from outside the European Union are treated in the same way regarding fees as those from within the European Union.
Differences in fees between cycles
Fees levels tend to be higher for Masters' level (second cycle) than for bachelors' level (first cycle), and fees are also charged to more students in the second cycle. In Greece, Cyprus, Malta and Scotland, fees are charged in the second cycle but not in the first, while higher levels of fees are typically charged at Masters' level in Ireland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).
France
Fees
- The amount of fees per year fixed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research is EUR 177 in the first cycle (L1, L2, L3) and EUR 245 in the second cycle (M1, M2). However, a number of universities have decided to add associated costs related to specific services (e.g. for diplomas related to continuing learning and training). In some public universities, the tuition fees can reach more than EUR 2 000/year.
- Fees in the grandes écoles and Engineering Schools vary, but the most common amount is EUR 584 per year. However, tuition fees in some of them reach up to EUR 13 500/year, depending on family income.
- Students who receive a grant (approximately 30 % of the student population) are exempted from fees.
Support
- Grants are awarded on the basis of financial need to students that are less than 28 years of age.
- The amount awarded for the need-based grant depends on the assessment of social criteria, and varies between EUR 1 606 and 4 600 per year. The merit-based grant ranges from EUR 1 800 to 6 102.
- Loans are also available, with a maximum amount of EUR 15 000, but less than 0.1 % of university students take out such a loan.
- Parents are eligible for tax relief if students are financially dependent on them and are less than 25 years old. The amount of tax relief is proportional to the amount of taxable income of the household.
- Family allowances are paid for two or more dependent children that are under 20 years old. The minimum amount is EUR 127 per month and increases with the number of eligible children. An additional amount of EUR 63 per month is paid for every child that is aged 16-20 years.
S T U D E N T S U P P O R T
Student support takes different forms and aims to meet different needs from country to country. However, the most common forms of support are grants and loans, which sometimes operate in conjunction (where the student receives loans and grants) and sometimes separately (student receives either a loan or a grant).
Grants
All countries, with the exception of Iceland and Turkey, provide some types of grant to at least some students. In Turkey there are fee reductions for some students, but no grants. There is a wide range of situations in other countries regarding the likelihood of receiving a grant. In Denmark, Cyprus and Malta all students receive grants. In Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) the majority of students receive grants. In the vast majority of countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain) only a minority of students receive grants. The proportion varies from 1% of the student population in Greece to around 40% in Hungary.
Loans
While it may be theoretically possible for students to take out loans in all countries, they are considered as a main feature of student support systems if around 5% of the student population takes out such a loan. This is the case in 16 countries: Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, the UK (all parts), Iceland, Norway and Turkey.
Other support: family allowances and tax benefits for parents of students
Student support systems may consider the student either as an individual or as a member of a family
that may need support. In the Nordic countries, in particular, the student is considered as an individual, and it is the individual who receives support. However, in many other countries, support may depend on overall family circumstances, and some forms of support may be channelled to other members of the family rather than the student.
Family allowances and tax benefits play a significant role in student support in a number of countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Estonia (tax benefits only), Greece, France, Ireland (tax benefits only), Italy (tax benefits only), Latvia (tax benefits only), Lithuania, Malta (tax benefits only), Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia (tax benefits only), Slovakia and Liechtenstein (tax benefits only).
Note: 4 countries – Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland did not submit information for this data collection. See National student fee and support systems 2011/2012.