France keeps budget promise

French higher education has escaped sweeping cutbacks aimed at meeting the Maastricht criteria for a single European currency. It has been awarded the biggest budget increase of any government department, However, public research institutions face a lower budget for 1997 and will have to readjust science funding priorities when an inter-ministerial committee finalises plans next week.

Education minister Francois Bayrou described the 5.5 per cent increase in higher education spending as "proof that the national effort to support universities remains top priority". Savings have been made in the school budget, whose increase is below the inflation rate.

Much of the extra funding for universities is earmarked for the most under-resourced universities, the focus of last autumn's student protests. This October, a first tranche of 4,000 extra jobs, half teaching and half administrative posts, has been allocated to the universities. Next October, the new budget provides for 2,700 jobs, including 1,500 academic posts.

The only entirely new measure is a FFrs 100 million (Pounds 12.5 million) budget for "tutoring" of new students by postgraduates. They will earn FFrs 1,000 a month for the first six months of the academic year for helping groups of ten to 15 new students.

The research budget is down by 1.4 per cent - which means a net loss of about 3.4 per cent after inflation. The cuts would "not affect France's international ranking", according to secretary of state for research Francois d'Aubert. "Savings will be made on structural reform," he said.