04 teaching staff in public higher education under the responsibility of the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research

In 2014-15, 91,800 teachers were working in public higher education establishments under the responsibility of the MENESR, out of a total of about 155,000 people. In 2013, France had 15.6 students per teacher against an average of only 17.3 in the OECD countries. A quarter of these employees are posted in the Ile-de-France region.

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.

Science subjects account for 40.3% of all staff, Arts and Humanities 30.5%, Law, Economics and Management 14.5% and Health and Medicine 14.7% (chart 04.02). In ten years, the number of tenured teacher-researchers (excluding assistants and specific groups) has increased by 5.6%. This increase masks some disparities between subjects: +10.6% in Law, Economics and Management, +7.3% in Arts and Humanities (which includes +11.5% for Humanities), and +4.8% across all scientific subjects (including +8.5% for Engineering Sciences and +7.1% for Mathematics and Computer Technology). Physics and Chemistry (-6.3% and –1.2% respectively) are in decline.

The average age of university professors is 53 years and 9 months and for tenured or trainee lecturers it is 45 years and 3 months (chart 04.04). This age gap is linked to career advancement: professors are recruited predominantly from among the corps of lecturers.

The proportion of women in the corps of teacher-researchers is increasing steadily. It is growing at a regular rate of about 0.5 points per year, and increased between 1994 and 2014 from 12.1% to 23.2% for professors and from 35.1% to 43.9% for lecturers. Overall, there is a higher rate of women in Arts and Humanities and Pharmacy than in Sciences, Law and Medicine. In addition, in recent years among lecturers in the 30-39 age bracket, women now predominate in Law, Arts and the Health disciplines. Among secondary teachers working in higher education, the proportion of women and the increase in their numbers is similar to that for lecturers

Secondary teachers working in higher education represent 14.4% of all staff (chart 04.01a) or 13,129 employees. Of these, 55% are agrégé teachers (secondary teachers with the highest qualifications), of whom 91.7% are appointed to universities (with about one third going into University Technology Institutes (IUT)) and 8.3% to engineering schools. They mainly teach Economics and Management, Languages and Literature, History and geography, Mathematics, Mechanics and Physical Education and Sports Science and Techniques (STAPS).

One quarter of all potential teaching staff in active employment in the higher education sector are assigned to the Ile-de-France region. More than half of these potential staff work in the four largest regions of France (Ile-de-France, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées and Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine). This territorial distribution is virtually the same as for students.

In France in 2013, the ratio of students to teaching staff in higher education was 17.3 (chart 04.05) compared with an average of 15.8 in the OECD countries.

Marc Bideault