10 profile of new baccalauréat holders entering the main branches of higher education

At the start of the 2013-2014 academic year, students holding a general baccalauréat represented 79.2% of new baccalauréat holders enrolled at university. The proportion entering IUTs had grown by 3.5 points since 2004 and reached 67.5% in 2013, but was in decline compared with 2012. STSs still recruit mainly technological baccalauréat holders, but the proportion is decreasing as numbers of vocational baccalauréat holders increase.

The vast majority of new students entering higher education hold the general baccalauréat, except in the Advanced technician's sections (Section de technicien supérieur - STS). They represent 95% of new students entering Classes preparing for admission to Grandes Ecoles (Classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles - CPGE). After falling back between 1995 and 2000, the share of general baccalauréat holders among new students entering university saw a slight upturn and reached 79.2% in 2013 (table 10.01).

In STS, it is technological baccalauréat holders who are most numerous among the new entrants (42%). However, this share has decreased regularly in recent years, and this decline continued at the start of the 2013-2014 year (-3.2 points compared with 2012). Conversely, the share of vocational baccalauréat holders increased 2.7 points compared with 2012. This share more than doubled between 2004 (14.6%) and 2012 (35.2%). In 2013, the long-term trend of increasing numbers of technological baccalauréat holders in technological university institutes (Institut universitaire de technologie - IUT) and vocational baccalauréat holders in STS was reinforced by the introduction of preferential student guidance.

In the 'other courses' (engineering schools independent from universities, business schools, paramedical and social care courses, etc.), general baccalauréat holders are still very much in the majority (83% of new entrants).

At university, the profile of new baccalauréat holders varies according to the branch in which they enrol. Scientific baccalauréat holders are concentrated in the "production" specialities at the IUT, in Sciences, Physical education and sports science and techniques (Sciences et techniques des activités physiques et sportives - STAPS) and in healthcare courses where they make up virtually all of those enrolled. The other general baccalauréat holders go into the Arts, Humanities, Law, Economics, Economic and Social Administration, and

'services' specialities at the IUT. 30% of new baccalauréat holders who enrol in IUTs have the technological baccalauréat, mainly in management sciences and technology (Sciences et technologies du management et de la gestion - STMG) in the 'services' specialities and Industry and sustainable development science and technology (Sciences et technologies de l'industrie et du développement durable - STI2D) for the 'production' specialities (chart 10.02). More than 13,700 vocational baccalauréat holders enrol at university, mainly in the Law, Economics, Economic and Social Administration study track or the Humanities, Human Sciences, Arts study track, and they represent 7.9% and 8.5% of enrolments respectively in these two tracks.

Access to higher education is still very closely linked with social background. Among the 2013 baccalauréat holders who enrolled in higher education straight away, young people from the most advantaged social categories were overrepresented. 27.6% had parents who were senior managers, teachers or freelance workers in their profession, compared with 23% for all baccalauréat holders combined. In 2013, as in 2004, there were proportionally twice as many children of managers as children of workers in the main higher education study tracks (table 10.03).

The share of new baccalauréat holders from the most advantaged social categories differs considerably from one study track to another. It is highest in CPGEs and the healthcare disciplines, where the proportions of children of senior managers, teachers and the professions stand at 48.4% and 39.3% respectively. In contrast, the short technological study tracks, IUTs and especially STSs, receive more children of workers and employees. They represent 32.3% of new enrolments in IUTs and 40.4% in STSs, compared with fewer than 16.6% in CPGE.

Laurent Fauvet & Sylvaine Péan