mum
March 28, 2024

Universities: after the mobilization, the balance

The cries of anger gave way to the calm revisions at the universities. After several months of blocking, the latter seem to have resumed their normal course, to allow students to take their exam and validate their year. As if nothing had happened. The record of these months of events is in this image. As if in the end, the mobilization had no great consequences, apart from the paralysis or postponement of decisions. The state has hardly gone back.
Indeed, the planned job cuts in 2010 and 2011 have been suspended. The mastering of teacher training, requiring them to get a master's degree instead of a license, was postponed to 2011. As for the law on university autonomy, some unions would like to see it buried while others would like to make some changes. The only notable step forward was the decree on the status of teacher-researchers, which triggered the demonstrations, which was the subject of a new decree adopted at the end of April.
It will certainly be expected that the conflict will resume in September, particularly with regard to issues that upset the teaching profession, such as mastering or job cuts.
Still, the real black spot is the image that will have given for several months the spectacle of a French university that prohibits access to courses for those who wish, sometimes putting in problem situations, foreign students to validate their acquired before leaving for their country.

Reaffirming University Values: "After Identity Liberalism" with Mark Lilla and faculty discussants (March 2024)