Question 15022 — higher education

Summary

Mr. Yannick Monnet questions the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Space on the consequences of the draft decree relating to registration fees for non-EU students. Since 2019, registration fees for foreign students from outside the European Union have increased 15 to 17 times, from 170 euros to 2,900 euros for a bachelor's degree and from 250 euros to 3,900 euros for a master's degree. The vast majority of universities, in order not to charge high prices to non-EU students, then chose to make maximum use of the possibilities for exemptions provided for by the regulations. The draft decree in question would introduce a strict cap on exemptions from registration fees, thus obliging universities to apply differentiated amounts of registration fees to the vast majority of their foreign students. Besides this This measure comes in direct contradiction with the principle of university autonomy (a principle widely promoted elsewhere), it would be added to the abolition of housing aid for non-community students (included in the finance law for 2026) and the doubling of the amount of the tax stamp required to obtain a student residence permit, from 75 to 150 euros. This measure, by organizing a selection by money and by reserving access to French universities only for the richest families, would be profoundly discriminatory and contrary to the values ​​of openness of the public education service, especially towards an already particularly vulnerable student population. This measure is part of a purely economic logic of higher education, seeing non-EU students and registration fees as a resource. additional to compensate for the lack of resources allocated to the university. We can also assume that it is preparing the general increase in registration fees for all students. This draft decree thus deeply questions the very meaning of the public service missions of higher education. By restricting the levers for welcoming and supporting international students, it undermines the universality of the model French university based on accessibility and international cooperation, as opposed to the criteria of “national preference”. The MP also draws the Minister's attention to the concrete consequences of this draft decree for the Clermont Auvergne University (UCA), which welcomes 4,500 to 5,000 international students each year (i.e. 13% to 14% of its student body), the vast majority in master's, doctorate and training of technicians and engineers. Nearly 70% of these international students come from sub-Saharan Africa, the Maghreb and the Middle East. Such a brutal increase in fees would have immediate effects on the attractiveness of training and would divert many candidates towards other, more accessible destinations, at the very time when France claims to want to strengthen its university attractiveness. The dynamism scientist at the UCA would also be affected: international students represent half of the 1,000 doctoral students who carry out their research in Auvergne laboratories. Reducing their arrival through a financial barrier means gradually weakening the conditions for the influence of the UCA, which is today in the “top 20” of French universities. More broadly, international students participate in the vitality of the campuses, local economic activity, cultural life, urban activity and the influence of the Auvergne territories. On a national scale, Campus France estimates that their presence represents a net contribution of 1.35 billion to the French economy. In addition, scientific studies show that one euro invested for a university student returns 3 for the local economy. In this context, send a signal of closure would be a major strategic error. He therefore asks him if all the consequences of this draft decree have been properly measured and if he plans to renounce them and repeal, more broadly, the differentiated registration fees.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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