Question 16362 — research and innovation

Summary

Mr. Jean-Claude Raux questions the Minister of Higher Education and Research about the decline in doctoral enrollments and the precariousness of the financial situation of doctoral students. According to data from the information systems and statistical studies sub-directorate (SIES) on the number of doctoral students in doctoral schools, a drop of 18% in new doctoral enrollees is noted between 2010 and 2022. If several causes can explain this development, one of them being the devaluation of doctoral contracts as well as the difficulties linked to the financing of theses. For example, we have seen a decrease in first-time registration numbers of 10.1% in mathematics and 14.7% in chemistry since the start of the 2021 school year. In human and social sciences, we have also observed a drop of 34.5% in first-time registrations (2010-2022), this which seems to coincide with the fact that only 4 out of 10 doctoral students in this sector have funding. These difficulties in obtaining funding seem to be exacerbated by the excessively low remuneration granted to teaching and research officers, temporary teaching and research associates (ATER) or temporary doctoral students. The situation gets worse year after year - and the risk of dropping out for French research is increasing. A mission was commissioned by the Minister on the recognition of the doctorate in businesses and society, it must deliver its conclusions by spring 2024. However, it is limited to the question of the professional integration of doctors. If this dimension must be taken into account in the developments observed, the mission does not question the diversity of causes which lead to the decline in doctoral enrollments, in particular the precariousness in which they find themselves. He therefore wishes to know his intentions regarding the upgrading of the very worrying financial situation of doctoral students and the decline in attractiveness of the national doctoral diploma.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

No documents linked.

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.