Formation Continue du Supérieur

Like the previous editions, the 9th edition of Higher Education and Research in France, Facts and Figures presents an annual overview, backed up by figures, of developments within the French system, its resources and outcomes.

07 the baccalauréat examination and baccalauréat holders
More than one Bac holder in four comes from a background of managers and higher intellectual professions, the socio-occupational category that is most represented (table 07.04). This is particularly true for the general path, with more than one Bac holder in three coming from this background. Children of employees are proportionally most numerous among holders of the technological Baccalaureat, while children of manual workers in the vocational path. More...

In the academic year 2014-15, 56,500 staff carried out administrative, technical or support functions in public higher education institutions, including autonomous institutions.

06 qualification and recruitment of teacher-researchers
Qualification for the position of University Professor or Lecturer is a pre-condition when applying for the competitive recruitment exam to become a teacher-researcher. Once qualification is awarded by the National Universities Council (CNU), it is valid for 4 years. In 2014, the qualification session organised by the Ministry received 21,803 applications, with one person being allowed to submit several requests for qualification under different disciplines (which are in fact submitted to different discipline-related sections of the CNU) or to each of the two teacher-researcher bodies. In 2014, members of the CNU examined 17,362 separate applications in all and approved 11,095 qualifications for 8,290 different individuals, i.e. 62.9% of the 13,180 candidates. More...

In the academic year 2014-15, 56,500 staff carried out administrative, technical or support functions in public higher education institutions, including autonomous institutions.

05 non-teaching staff in public higher education under the responsibility of the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research
Numbers were at an equivalent level to 2009-10, following a decline up to 2014. Engineers and technical staff for research and training (ITRF) made up the majority of non-teaching staff (68.0%). Their number has increased significantly since 2009-10 (+14.1%). This rise is mainly due to the increase in category A and B posts (respectively 18.7% and 26.7%). Administrative, health and social personnel (ASS) represented 24% of higher education non-teaching staff in 2014. They lost a quarter of their personnel over the period. This decrease was particularly marked for staff in category C (-23%) and B (-21%). By contrast, the number of personnel in category A stayed at nearly the same level between 2009 and 2014 (-1%). More...

Like the previous editions, the 9th edition of Higher Education and Research in France, Facts and Figures presents an annual overview, backed up by figures, of developments within the French system, its resources and outcomes.

04 teaching staff in public higher education under the responsibility of the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research
In 2015, education and research personnel in public higher education under the authority of the MENESR fell by 0.8% compared to the previous year, to 91,000 teachers including 57,000 teacher-researchers and equivalent, i.e. 62.6% of the whole (chart 04.01a). Secondary teachers working in higher education and non-tenured teachers represented 14.4% and 23% of teachers respectively. 93.6% of these staff members are posted to universities universities (chart 04.01b).
The number of tenured teachers and trainee teachers has increased substantially over the last decade (+4.8% between 2005 and 2015), after recording even higher growth rates during the previous decade (chart 04.03a and chart 04.03b). These changes reflect the strong growth in student numbers over the same periods. Between 2005 and 2015, the rate of increase was similar for university professors (+6.3%) and lecturers (+6.7%). The category of non-tenured teachers showed some contrasting trends over the period in question. Numbers rose sharply between 1993 and 2003 (+61%), continued to increase, but at a slower pace, until 2009. Since then they have decreased. More...

Like the previous editions, the 9th edition of Higher Education and Research in France, Facts and Figures presents an annual overview, backed up by figures, of developments within the French system, its resources and outcomes.

03 social support for students
During 2014-2015, around 680,000 students received at least one form of financial aid (table 03.01a and table 03.01b). The proportion of students aided was stable compared to the previous year. Over one-third of students (35.8%) enrolled on a course eligible for a support (see opposite) were assisted, which is much higher than the proportion recorded in 2000-01 (28.6%). Several times, the income ceilings for allocating a social support were raised, to increase the number of beneficiaries, and different scales were created in 1999, 2008 and 2013. In autumn 2014, the income ceilings were changed. Consequently, the number of students receiving financial aid of €1,007 (scale 0bis) increased from around 54,000 to 152,000, while the number of students exempted from tuition fees fell drastically. The number of students receiving social support, which now represents 97% of students aided, rose by 2.5% in 2014, while the number of students receiving specific support (one-off or annual) decreased. The proportion of students receiving support was stable in universities (34.7% and classes preparing for admission to Grandes Ecoles (CPGE) (27.7%). It increased significantly in Advanced technician's sections (STS) (47.5%), where this proportion was the highest. More...

ISCED is the reference international classification for organising education programmes and related qualifications by levels and fields.
ISCED 2011 (levels of education) is implemented in all EU data collections from 2014. ISCED-F 2013 (fields of education and training) will be implemented from 2016.

2 Implementation of ISCED 2011 (levels of education)
ISCED 2011 is implemented in all EU data collections as from 2014. In household surveys, ISCED 2011 is implemented as from reference year 2014 (see Commission Regulation (EU) No 317/2013) and in administrative data collections on education systems (UOE) as from school year 2012/13 (see Commission Regulation (EU) No 912/2013).

2.1 Methodological support
Methodological support was developed for the implementation of ISCED 2011.

• The ISCED 2011 operational manual, elaborated by UIS, OECD and Eurostat, provides guidelines for classifying national education programmes and related qualifications according to ISCED 2011. It was developed for national statisticians reporting data on education to international organisations and for all users interested in better understanding of these data.
• For statisticians working on the households/individuals surveys including the variable "Educational attainment", Guidelines on the measurement of educational attainment in household surveyscan serve as a methodological support.
• The UOE (UNESCO-OECD-Eurostat) data collection (from administrative data sources - on pupils/students, graduates, expenditure, teachers, languages and regional data) uses the UOE Manual on concepts, definitions and classifications.

National integrated ISCED mappings are available here. An ISCED integrated mapping is a table including information on national educational programmes and qualifications, their main characteristics and coding in ISCED 1997 and ISCED 2011.

3 Correspondence ISCED 2011->ISCED 1997

3.1 Levels of education in ISCED 2011
Compared to ISCED 1997 which had seven levels of education, ISCED 2011 has nine levels of education, from level 0 to level 8 (tertiary education is more detailed):

• ISCED 0: Early childhood education (‘less than primary’ for educational attainment)
• ISCED 1: Primary education
• ISCED 2: Lower secondary education
• ISCED 3: Upper secondary education
• ISCED 4: Post-secondary non-tertiary education
• ISCED 5: Short-cycle tertiary education
• ISCED 6: Bachelor’s or equivalent level
• ISCED 7: Master’s or equivalent level
• ISCED 8: Doctoral or equivalent level

3.3 Correspondence between ISCED 2011 and ISCED 1997 (aggregated levels)
Eurostat’s online tables on or by educational attainment level (mainly from the EU-LFS but also from the EU-SILC and other EU household surveys) present data for three aggregates: low - medium - high level of education.
The correspondence between ISCED 2011 and ISCED 1997 at this level of aggregation is as follows:

At this level of aggregation data are considered as comparable over time for all available countries (i.e. no significant level shift breaks) except Austria where the reclassification of one education programme from ISCED level 4 to level 5 caused the increase of tertiary educational attainment.
In the online tables, the code list “ISCED11” is used and the change to ISCED 2011 as from 2014 is indicated through the flag ‘b’ (break in time series).

4 ISCED 1997 (fields) and ISCED-F 2013
2016 will be the first year of the implementation of the revised classification of fields of education and training - ISCED-F 2013 in EU data collections: in administrative data collections on education systems (UOE) it will concern school year 2014/15 and in household surveys reference year 2016.
Broad fields of education in ISCED 1997:

0 – General programmes

1 – Education

2 – Humanities and arts

3 – Social sciences, business and law

4 – Science

5 – Engineering, manufacturing and construction

6 – Agriculture

7 – Health and welfare

8 – Services

Broad fields of education in ISCED-F 2013:

00 – Generic programmes and qualifications

01 – Education

02 – Arts and humanities

03 – Social sciences, journalism and information

04 – Business, administration and law

05 – Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics

06 – Information and Communication Technologies

07 – Engineering, manufacturing and construction

08 – Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary

09 – Health and welfare

10 – Services

For more information on ISCED-F 2013 and in particular the correspondence between ISCED 1997 (fields) and ISCED-F 2013, please see here

5 See also
Articles on Education and training. More...