Global Student Story: Sorbonne University shut down after student protests

Sorbonne University in Paris, France was shut down after riot police intervened to stop about 200 students occupying the university, protesting the proposed higher education reforms, on Thursday 13 April.

The University remained closed on Friday 14 April and Saturday 15 April due to “security concerns”. University officials said they tried to negotiate with the protesting students for over three hours, and called in the police after talks were unsuccessful.

According to a statement from Paris police, “the evacuation was calm and without incident.”

The protest at Sorbonne University was the most recent in a series of protests talking place at universities across France, such as Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Rennes, which have also seen occupations.

The proposed reforms seek to change access to higher education in France. At the moment, those who take the French baccalauréat (A-Level equivalent) are guaranteed a place at university, which leads to some popular courses like law and psychology being oversubscribed; a lottery system was put in place to allocate places on such courses.

The planned changes propose that students should specialise earlier, choosing two major and two minor subjects, as well as giving universities the power to impose admission criteria and access to students’ high school records to allow them to become more selective and rank applicants.

Opponents of the changes are concerned that this would disadvantage especially poorer students, as not all baccalauréat options will be available at every high school, which could mean that some students would not have access to certain degrees.

President Emmanuel Macron said that in many universities, those who were protesting were “not students but professional agitators, professionals of disorder”.

Paul Guillibert, a philosophy lecturer at Nanterre University, told The Local France: “Universities are the last bastion of egalitarianism in this country.”

Caroline Kahn, a doctoral student in civil law, also commented to The Local France: “We are the only country in Europe where universities are not a place of excellence. It’s frustrating.”

She added: “To those who fear selection I’m tempted to say: work harder!”