Students and companies
Améliorer l’insertion professionnelle

Better professional inclusion for PhD holders

This is good news for foreign students, who account for about 40% of PhD holders in France. On August 27^th, representatives from the Medef, the main employer federation in France, signed an agreement with the main stakeholders of French higher education: the Conférence des présidents d’université (CPU, for Conference of University Presidents), the Conférence des directeurs des écoles françaises d’ingénieurs (CDEFI, for Conference of Directors of French Engineering Schools) and the Conférence des grandes écoles (CGE, Conference of "Grandes Ecoles").

The conference, called pacte d’engagement pour le supérieur (Commitment Pact for Higher Education) looks to strengthen the bonds between the corporate world and French higher education institutions. One of the major guidelines is about professional inclusion of PhD holders. The Website MyDocPro.org was opened in early 2015 and is specially designed to promote skills in relation to criteria defined by recruiters: the aim is to communicate more on this tool so as many students and companies as possible use it. The number of PhD schools labelled "Parcours compétences pour l’entreprise" (skill to companies) should also be doubled: by offering PhD holders hours of theory training and experience in companies, this scheme looks to facilitate evolution opportunities in this field.

Developing intermediary careers

The increase of professionally-oriented trainings at intermediary levels (bac+2 or +3, i.e. 2 or 3 years of studies after "baccalauréat")
Professional inclusion of students in these courses is good: according to a report by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, 92% of holders of a professional European Licence (equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree) obtained in 2011 are included in the labour market 30 months after they enter working life. Companies just noticed a higher demand in degrees of such level. The idea is to develop education offer in careers such as BTS or DUT (2-year training after the "baccalauréat") or even professional Licences (obtain after 3 years of studies) and bachelor degrees (also obtained after 3 years, but in Business School-type institutions).

Banner photo credit: © Camille Stromboni