08 changes in higher education over the last 50 years: growth and diversification
This page has been updated. Read 09. students in higher education over the last 50 years in Higher education & research in France, facts and figures 10th edition - June 2017
In 2013, there were 2,430,100 students, 8 times as many as in 1960. Today, a little over six students in every ten are enrolled at university. However, in the last 10 years, most of this dynamism has been concentrated in private higher education. In 2013 this sector accounted for almost 18% of all students.
Student numbers in higher education have increased 8-fold in 50 years (table 08.01) and they are likely to continue to grow over the next 10 years. Numbers increased from 310,000 in 1960 to 2,430,000 in 2013, and they are set to exceed 2,600,000 in 2020 if current trends in terms of educational choices and pursuing studies into higher education continue.
The demographic dynamism of the 1950s and 1960s and the opening up of the baccalauréat exam to more pupils (77% of a generation compared with 10% at the beginning of the 1960s) account in part for this growth (chart 08.02). The extended duration of studies and the increased appeal of the higher education system have also contributed to this large increase. Young people do indeed aspire to longer studies: 56% of young people entering the first year of a Bachelor's degree at the start of the 2011 academic year hoped to continue their studies as far as a Master's degree, compared with 50% in 2000. The diplomas they obtain are usually of Bac + 3 and Bac + 5 level: 32% of young people entering secondary education in 1995 went on to obtain a diploma of Bac + 3 level or higher, compared with 26% of young people entering secondary education in 1989. Lastly, half of the total rise in student numbers in higher education over the last 20 years is due to the influx of international students (chart 08.03), most of whom have come from foreign education systems. They represent 12.1% of students compared with 9.4% 20 years ago. France is one of the five most attractive countries in the world in terms of students, a long way behind the United States and the United Kingdom, but only a little below the level of Germany and Australia.
During the 1960s, it was the longer university courses that boosted the development of higher education (chart 08.04). They accounted for four-fifths of growth. After this, other courses also contributed: University technology institutes (Institut universitaire de technologie - IUT), Advanced technician's sections (Section de technicien supérieur - STS) (during the 1980s, associated with the sharp increase in the number of baccalauréat holders), and higher schools.
During the period 2000-2010, two-thirds of growth derived from these other courses: major institutions, higher schools, paramedical and social care courses. Thus the majority of growth over the last 10 years (80%) is down to the private sector (chart 08.05), whose staff numbers have grown more than 50% and which today account for more than one student in every six (18%), and also to the public sector under the responsibility of other ministries than the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research (Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l'Enseignement supérieur et da la Recherche - MENESR). In 2013, all courses offered in business and management schools were part of the private sector. Private sector courses also accounted for about one third of students in the engineering schools and STS and one sixth of students in classes preparing for admission to Grandes Ecoles (Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles - CPGE).
Given all these changes, at the start of the 2013-2014 academic year the landscape of higher education in France was highly diversified: universities accounted for 62% of students, of whom 9% were in health disciplines and 5% in IUTs. Engineering schools had 6% of students and business and management schools also had 6%. Finally, 10% of students were in STS and 3% in CPGE.
MAAF
MENESR-DGESIP/DGRI-SIES
Insee.
How to cite this paper :
close
Key figures
students
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
Metropolitan France + overseas departments
08.01 Students enrolled in higher education since 1960 (in thousands)
You can embed this table to your website or your blog by copying the HTML code and pasting it into the source code of your website / blog:
close
08.02 Proportion of baccalauréat holders in a generation (sessions from 1950-2014 p) (%)
The proportions of baccalauréat holders in a generation for the 2011 to 2014 sessions have been updated based on the Demographic Review published by INSEE in March 2014. Values may therefore differ from those published last year.
This balance sheet provides provisional population estimates from 2012 onwards. The proportions of baccalauréat holders in a generation for the 2012 to 2014 sessions are therefore provisional.
p provisional.
MAAF
Insee
You can embed this chart to your website or your blog by copying the HTML code and pasting it into the source code of your website / blog:
close
08.03 Change in numbers of French and foreign students (base 100 in 2000)
MENESR-DEPP
You can embed this chart to your website or your blog by copying the HTML code and pasting it into the source code of your website / blog:
close
08.04 students enrolled in higher education since 1960 (in thousands)
You can embed this chart to your website or your blog by copying the HTML code and pasting it into the source code of your website / blog:
close
08.05 Change in number of students in higher education institutions (base 100 in 2000)
MENESR-DEPP
You can embed this chart to your website or your blog by copying the HTML code and pasting it into the source code of your website / blog:
close
Related statistical publications

Looking ahead to 2023, the number of general baccalauréat holders will probably increase significantly compared with 2013 across all series, mainly due to dynamic demographic growth.
As a result of the introduction of priority guidance measures, the rate of students continuing their studies has improved and there has been a rise in the number of vocational baccalauréat holders going into Advanced technician's sections (Section de technicien supérieur - STS), and those from the technological series going into University technology institutes (Institut universitaire de technologie - IUT).
If trends in terms of guidance, further studies and demographic growth were to continue, student numbers would increase by 9% between 2013 and 2023.


Translation

08 - les évolutions de l'enseignement supérieur depuis 50 ans : croissance et diversification - Laurence Dauphin