09 students in higher education over the last 50 years

In 2015, 2,551,000 students enrolled in higher education, eight times as many as in 1960. Today, a little over six in ten students enrol at university. This share has however decreased over the last 50 years due to the diversification of the training on offer.

Students enrolled in higher education have increased eightfold in fifty years (table 09.01). Numbers have increased from 310,000 students enrolled in 1960 to 2,551,000 in 2015. Demographical changes are expected to cause a new increase in the next ten years, with numbers exceeding 2,910,000 in 2025. A new growth in the proportion of baccalauréat holders in a generation or rates of continuing in higher education could further extend this increase.

The rise in the number of students was initially led principally by the demographic growth of the 1950s and 1960s. Expanded access to the baccalauréat was a determining factor, particularly between 1987 and 1995, a period during which the proportion of baccalauréat holders in a generation increased from 33% to 63%. After a period of stability, this proportion recently grew significantly, from 62% in 2008 to 79% in 2016 (chart 09.02). This expanded access to the baccalauréat is due to a diversification in the offer, firstly with the creation of the technological baccalauréat (1968), followed by the vocational baccalauréat (1985). The latter in particular explains the recent increase in the proportion of baccalauréat holders in a generation. The aspirations of young people and their families to achieve a higher education qualification has also contributed to the marked increase in the student numbers (chapter 21). In 2015, 40% of 25-49 year olds had higher education qualifications, compared with 28% in 2005 (chart 09.03).

During the 1960s, long university courses led the developments in higher education (table 09.01): their proportion increased from 69% in 1960 to 75% in 1970 (excluding DUT preparations). It then decreased continuously for some forty years, reaching 57% in 2010, before increasing again very recently (chapter 12). During the 1970s and 1980s, preparations for DUT and especially STS led most of the growth in higher education, combined with the significant increase in the number of baccalauréat holders. Between 1970 and 2015, the proportion of students in 'other institutions and courses' (see definition) rose from 15% to 24%, demonstrating a diversification in courses giving access to higher education.

Since 2000, students enrolled in private higher education have increased by 62%, while total numbers increased by 18% over the same period. The private sector had 450,000 students enrolled in 2015, which represents one student in six (chart 09.04). It accounts for around a third of STS and engineering school numbers and all the business, management and accounts schools.

The growth in French higher education numbers over the last fifteen years can be primarily explained also by the increase in the number of foreign students (chart 09.05), mostly from foreign education systems. They represent 12.1% of students, compared with 8.1% in 2000 (chapter 14).

Elisabeth Algava