12 apprenticeships in higher education

In 2012-2013, 135,400 of the 438,100 apprentices were following a higher education course (i.e. 30.9%). This number has grown by 92% since 2005 and by more than 10% in the last year. Irrespective of the diploma apprentices are working towards, they are mainly recruited through the vocational track in high school and the majority are young men.

In 1987, apprenticeships in higher education became possible. Previously, apprentices were limited to taking the Certificate of vocational aptitude (Certificat d’aptitude professionnelle - CAP), but the Seguin reform extended the apprenticeship system to all levels of training and education. However, it was only after 1995 that this system really began to develop.

Between 1995 and 2000, the number of apprentices at level III (preparing a 2-year vocational diploma after the baccalauréat), levels II and I (preparing a 2nd or 3rd cycle diploma or Grande Ecole) increased from 20,050 to 51,200 (table 12.01). From 2005, this growth accelerated further with the introduction of the vocational Bachelor's degree (Licence professionnelle - LP) and the Master's. Between 2005 and 2012, the number of apprentices in higher education grew by 91.6%. This growth alone is responsible for the increase in apprentice numbers. In 2012-2013, almost one apprentice in three was following a course in higher education. With numbers reaching 135,400 at the start of the 2012-2013 academic year, this represents 2.1% of young people aged 18 to 25. Apprentices account for 5.5% of students in higher education.

Growth remained strong between 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 (+10.2%), especially in the Master's (+13.2%) and engineering diplomas (+12.6%).

Level III represents 55.3% of apprentices in higher education, level II, 16.5%, and level I, 28.2% (chart 12.02). Almost one in two apprentices in higher education (45.6%) are preparing an Advanced technician's diploma (Brevet de technicien supérieur - BTS), and one in ten an engineering diploma (11.7%) or a Bachelor's degree (10.7%). The rest are divided between the Master's, University technology diplomas delivered by the IUT (Diplôme universitaire de technologie - DUT) and business school diplomas.

Apprenticeships in higher education, like apprenticeships in general, are taken up mainly by boys, however, the proportion of girls (39.2%) is higher than for apprenticeships overall (32.2%). This proportion of girls is particularly high for Master's (54.2%) and Bachelor's degrees (43.8%), diplomas that are geared more towards the services sector (76.9% and 64.3% respectively) and it is lower for engineering diplomas, which are geared more towards production (16.7%) (chart 12.03). The average age of apprentices in higher education is 21.4 years.

In 2012-13, more than half of apprentices in their first year of training in higher education originated from a training course under school status (51.2%). Only 23.2% of them were already apprenticed the year before, while 25.6% were in another situation (professionalisation contract, employment, unemployed or unknown situation). Among apprentices in their first year of BTS, 48.9% had been in a general, technological or vocational final year under school status the previous year, and 20.7% had already started an apprenticeship (chart 12.04a). The majority of apprentices preparing a Bachelor's degree came from a training course under school status (54.4%), mainly a BTS or a DUT (30.6% and 19.8% respectively), while one young person in four was already an apprentice (chart 12.04b). Engineering diplomas also recruited young people mainly via the school route (54.0%) and mainly DUTs (29.2%); the proportion of young people already apprenticed the previous year was 23.7% (chart 12.04c).

The proportion of apprentices in higher education varies greatly across the regions. In Île-de- France, 53.0% of apprentices are following a course in higher education, the figure is 30 to 33% in the Rhône-Alpes, Alsace, Guyane and Nord-Pas-de-Calais regions, compared with 17 to 20% in Auvergne, Basse-Normandie, Bourgogne and Limousin.

Aurélie Demongeot