Let’s make youth a major national cause!

The situation is serious

University vice-chancellors, together with the directors of public institutions, are issuing a solemn warning about the protests currently taking place on a great many campuses across France. These protests are taking forms that can only lead to rising tensions: the intolerable acts of vandalism and verbal abuse over recent weeks are proof of this. Unfortunately, these forms of protest now seem to be the only ones capable of compelling, if not a willingness to listen, then at least some form of consideration from the head of state.

How much more violence must we endure before we can start moving forward again? How many members of university staff will have to continue, day after day, to go above and beyond the call of duty in an attempt to keep our places of work and study functioning, caught between austerity measures on the one hand and escalating demands on the other?

The situation is serious in our universities, where the knowledge and skills we need are forged. France Universités has been warning for years about the gradual deterioration of study and working conditions in higher education and research institutions. We simply no longer have the resources to fulfil our public service remit and uphold the republican promise of equal opportunities. Today’s protest should come as no surprise: it is the logical consequence of the cutbacks and lack of trust faced by public institutions responsible for educating and supporting young people.

The immediate measures required

France Universités is calling for immediate announcements to defuse the situation, which, as it continues to deteriorate, is exposing staff and students in our institutions to additional risks day after day. Parcoursup, which is currently the focus of all attention and can always be improved, must not become a scapegoat used to mask the reality of the severe funding shortages faced by our institutions.

The conclusions of the Conference on University Funding in 2026 call for a structural adjustment to operating grants in the region of one billion euros. We propose to launch an initial phase of recovery from 2027, as part of a multi-year plan, centred on three priorities:

1. Making the fight against student financial insecurity a national priority
   Reforming means-tested grants to increase their value, improve their progressivity and broaden access: an additional 340 million euros (in addition to the funding required for university catering services).
2. Restoring the resources needed for universities to fulfil their remit
   An additional €500 million in recurrent funding from 2027 would, in particular, make it possible to fully offset the salary increases and rises in the CAS Pensions contribution decided by the State (€200 million); to relaunch the HR measures under the LPR (90 million) relating to recruitment and career progression; to fund the reform of access to healthcare studies scheduled for the start of the 2027 academic year (30 million); to fund 20,000 additional university places (80 million) and to provide the necessary resources to support the new form of contractual arrangements between the State and universities (100 million). This effort should put an end to the practice of freezing recruitment and gradually rebuild teaching staff capacity.
3. Launch a major national plan to renovate university campuses
   We propose launching a new, large-scale ‘Campus’ plan dedicated to energy-efficient renovation, making buildings climate-resilient – particularly with regard to thermal comfort in summer – and modernising teaching and research facilities. This programme would also serve as a powerful catalyst for economic recovery in the construction and public works sectors, benefiting employment and economic activity across all regions. An emergency fund of 200 million euros from 2027 would constitute the first stage of a new national property investment plan totalling one billion euros per year from 2028.

In total, we are proposing an additional budgetary commitment of one billion euros from 2027, the first stage of an ambitious multi-year programme, to be extended from 2028 by a major property investment plan worth one billion euros per year.

To finance this, we will commit to it immediately, before reforming it to provide truly effective support for investment in R&D, and to abolish public funding for apprenticeships in the for-profit private education sector¹ would be two readily feasible options.

¹The Court of Auditors estimates the total amount of public funding benefiting the for-profit private sector at 1.5 billion euros per year. Between 40 per cent and 70 per cent of the turnover of for-profit private schools comes from public funds.

Let’s make young people our great national cause!

But beyond these now eagerly awaited announcements, France Universités is calling for the organisation of a national youth forum, bringing together young people from all backgrounds and regions, citizens, civil society organisations and experts, to identify the major challenges and discuss together the choices available to us in the run-up to the 2027 presidential election. The President of the Republic’s proposal, on 18 October, to organise discussions with civil society organisations may be a first step, but it will not be enough.

Young people today are voicing their concerns and their anger, but also their need to be heard and to be able to envisage a future for themselves. We must respond to them. And the issue of young people is not limited to school or university: it concerns employment, housing, health, independence, mobility, the environment and democracy. It concerns society as a whole.

With the presidential election just a few months away, this initiative aims to place the younger generations at the heart of the democratic debate and to invite the candidates to take a stand on the proposals arising from this collective reflection.

Let us not be content merely with responding to the crisis. Let us turn this situation into an opportunity to build, together with young people, a new shared future.