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Archive photo · 17 October 2026France’s Government Announces Parcoursup Replacement, Hundreds Of Teaching Jobs After Student Protests
8 Western Mainstream1 Asian1 West AsianPhoto: Florian Cuny, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
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Government will replace Parcoursup by 2028 and create thousands of higher-education places. They also plan renovations of university buildings and more teaching positions.
10 outlets told this the same way.
Government yields to students
France's government moved toward demands from high school students and university students after weeks of school protests and riots, with the Parcoursup platform to be replaced in autumn 2028. Higher education minister Philippe Baptiste said the admission system should become more transparent and rejections should be accompanied by a justification, and he tied the changes to the replacement of Parcoursup. Education Minister Édouard Geffray announced that hundreds of teaching positions should be created and planned cuts reversed.
“The Parcoursup platform is to be replaced in autumn 2028.”
President Emmanuel Macron warned in Marseille that the coming Saturday also held danger, and he urged demonstration parades to take place far from city centers. Germany’s interior politics also hardened, as NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul said, “We will not accept a marauding mob destroying our cities: protests are legitimate, riots we will stop.”
Matignon concessions, continued mobilization
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu met with high school organizations and then student organizations at Matignon on Monday, October 26, after ministers Edouard Geffray and Philippe Baptiste presented the executive’s plan to try to get out of the crisis. Le Monde described the government’s roadmap as covering Parcoursup, class sizes, school buildings, and the “pressure” of continuous assessment, with measures intended to be adopted immediately by amendment in the 2027 budget. Le Monde said the plan was designed to respond to demands raised by high school students mobilized in the streets, confirmed by an online consultation launched at the beginning of October that received more than 100,000 contributions by its close on October 23.
Despite the concessions, student leaders called for continued mobilization, and Louis Letoublon said, “We have obtained crumbs compared to what we demand,” while Clément Vieillot criticized a government that “knows it cannot implement what it will say,” since they “are leaving in six months.” The government also faced pressure over policing, as the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of 1,435 people during last Saturday’s demonstrations, according to Reuters.
What comes next for Parcoursup
The French government planned a two-step replacement of Parcoursup, with greater clarity about local algorithms starting this school year and a major project for the following school year that would require a statute. Philippe Baptiste said Parcoursup would see a “strong evolution” in 2027 with more “readability” and “ease of use,” before a “replacement in 2028” of the post-baccalaureate admission platform. The government also planned 15,000 additional places in higher education, and it set a cap of 28 students per class in 50% of the most disadvantaged establishments starting next school year, according to the announcements.
Le Soir reported that the government planned the replacement in two steps “this year and the next school year,” and it said the two-step approach would include clarity for local algorithms and for selection in each school. Student and union groups continued to press for further changes, as the Union of Students, La Fage, Unef, and the Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL) demanded 10 main measures valued at 10 billion euros, including the end of university selection and the creation of 250,000 university places.