Latest / Best of: Features / France pledges new university admissions to quell student anger. But only after Macron leaves office

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France pledges new university admissions to quell student anger. But only after Macron leaves office · Best of: Features

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  France promises to replace its university admissions after riots and thousands of
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  arrests. Written by Thomas Adamson and Sylvie Corbett. This article is
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  being read by an automated voice generated by Everlet. The AP. France's
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  government pledged Monday to replace its national online university admissions platform, seeking
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  to quell student anger after weeks of often violent mass protests over
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  education and living posts Higher Education Minister Philippe Baptiste announced substantial
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  change to the platform next year before its replacement in 2028. Ministers
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  also pledged up to four billion euros, four point five billion dollars
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  in loans for school renovations, alongside smaller classes, more teaching and higher
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  education posts, and increased student grants. The
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  concessions target the school grievances that helped ignite the unrest. But the
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  movement has widened to include workers demanding relief from rioting living costs,
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  making the government's task tougher than simply resolving a dispute over university
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  admissions. The promises came after a turbulent few weeks. The announcements followed
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  France's worst unrest in years on october seventeenth, when demonstrations over school
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  funding and rising living costs descended into rioting and looting across the
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  country. Groups of protesters set fires, looted shops, clashed with police, and
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  attacked public buildings, briefly storming Marseille's city hall and setting Lamoges nineteenth
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  century town hall ablaze. The fire brought down the Lamoges building's roof
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  and clock tower. About 2400 people were arrested in connection with the
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  demonstrations in which hundreds of thousands marched peacefully. Two high school student
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  groups welcomed some concessions, but called for protests to continue. Their representatives
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  spoke after meeting with Prime Minister Sebastien Le Cornou earlier Monday. We
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  have managed to address some of the students demands, said Nathaniel Combarry
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  of the high school group Renouveau Lycien. I emphasize the term sum.
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  Other representatives were more critical. We have received crumbs compared to what
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  we are asking for, said Clement Vieilleux of the Mouvement Cachon ninety
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  four student group. He pointed to students demand for two hundred fifty
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  thousand more university places, compared with the government's pledge of fifteen thousand
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  additional places in higher education. Further demonstrations are planned. Admissions
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  changes will fall to the next president. The twenty twenty eight deadline
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  puts a central concession to protesters beyond President Emmanuel Macron's time in
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  office, leaving his successor's government to deliver it. Macron can't seek a
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  third consecutive term in twenty twenty seven, and far right leader Maureen
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  Le Pen leads polling before the first round of presidential voting on
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  april eighteenth. A winner takes all runoff is scheduled for May second.
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  Le Pen's National Rally Party has sought to capitalize on the unrest,
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  presenting itself as a force for law and order and urging voters
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  to channel their anger into support for her presidential bid. The university
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  admissions replacement system still has to be designed, and legal changes may
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  be needed, leaving crucial decisions unresolved even as the government seeks to
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  persuade students to end their protests. The platform called ParkerSup allows students
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  to apply to universities and other higher education courses and receive admissions
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  decisions A
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  record one point zero five million people applied through it this year,
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  according to the Higher Education Ministry. It has been a focus of
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  the protests, with students criticizing unclear selection criteria and unequal access to
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  their preferred courses. French government commits to education reforms. For the
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  twenty twenty seven admissions round, institutions would publish more d detailed selection
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  criteria, the platform would provide explanatory information with each rejection, and institutions
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  would have to give applicants the reasons for their decisions if requested.
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  A committee involving students and teachers would produce initial recommendations for the
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  replacement system by the end of November. The government said that it
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  would introduce legislation if The
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  proposed changes require it. The government also promised fifteen thousand additional places
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  in higher education across twenty twenty seven and twenty twenty eight, mostly
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  in vocational and technical programs, and increases in student grants linked to
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  inflation from the start of the twenty twenty seven academic year. To
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  address demands for better learning conditions, the government pledged to cap some
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  first year high school classes at twenty eight students from twenty twenty
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  seven, starting with more disadvantaged schools. It also promised to cancel planned
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  cuts to teaching positions at secondary schools and create five hundred additional
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  jobs. The building plans would extend still further into the next presidency.
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  The
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  government proposed up to 4 billion euros, 4.5 billion dollars in low
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  interest loans to regional authorities for school renovations through 2030, a separate
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  1 billion euro, 1.1 billion dollars, state plan would fund university renovations
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  through 2029. Violence has lessened. Another round of nationwide
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  demonstrations on Saturday saw less violence. Authorities estimated turnout at four hundred
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  ten thousand, while organizers put it at nearly eight hundred thousand. Authorities
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  deployed 70,000 police officers in Gendarme to prevent a repeat of the
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  previous weekend's widespread destruction. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Monday
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  that 1,435 people had been arrested nationwide in connection with the latest
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  weekend's protests. Earlier Monday, the French president promised concrete measures
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  to address students demands during a visit to the southern port city
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  of Marseille. I have asked the government to address the legitimate demands
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  at the root of this protest movement, Macron said. Macron and his
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  centrist government have faced criticism for failing to address students grievances since
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  high school blockades began in mid September. The protests have led to
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  mass arrests and scrutiny of police riot control weapons, blamed for life
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  changing injuries suffered by some teenagers. The demands for better resource schools,
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  particularly in poorer communities, come as France grapples with record poverty and
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  record public debt. Nicholas Garriga and Geoffrey Schaefer contributed.