Birth rate fall slims student body

As school pupils took to the streets in France demanding more teachers and better conditions, the university year was getting under way more peacefully.

For education minister Claude All gre, priorities this year are student well-being, organising the future of the university and greater international cooperation. For the third year running, the falling birthrate of the late 1970s has slimmed the student body enrolled in 88 universities to 1.5 million, 21,000 fewer than in 1997.

There are now 2.1 million students in higher education when non-university public and private institutions are included. But though there are fewer students, more will this year benefit financially thanks to the government's new FFr1 billion (Pounds 108.7 million) social plan.

The grants system has been widened to include more middle-class students and more generous benefits will be targeted at those from low-income families. A new scholarship scheme has already enabled 200 bright but poor students to study for entrance exams to an elite grande ecole.

Cheap student rates for public transport in and around Paris and action on health and housing, should make undergraduate life more comfortable, as should renovation of campuses, a priority in U3M, Mr All gre's Universities of the Third Millennium programme.

U3M also contracts regional authorities to split financing developments such as lycee building, research and technological innovation with the state.

Noting that "our Anglo-Saxon competitors, active promoters of their training networks", had stolen a march on France, the minister is also pursuing wider international contacts in higher education and research. A new agency will aim to attract foreigners to France for training and educational and scientific exchanges.

Simplified entry and residence formalities to ease bureaucracy for foreign academics and students coming to work and study here have also been introduced. Other initiatives include:

* post-baccalaureat plans to be devised by academies (the local authorities of the national education ministry) in consultation with universities, relevant government departments and other partners to coordinate training with employment and state needs

* reorganisation of the scientific DEUG (initial two-year degree) to reduce the number of lectures in favour of working in small groups

* urgent measures to train more computer scientists

* expansion of continuing training, through implementation of 13 university projects selected by jury.

One of Mr Allegre's big worries is the decreasing number of science-oriented students. There are 18,000 fewer school-leavers with a scientific baccalaureat than three years ago.