Parcoursup

Parcoursup
Logo for Parcoursup.
Screenshot of Parcoursup on June 2026.
Website type
Academic portal
Available inFrench
Country of origin
France
OwnerMinister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (France)
Websitewww.parcoursup.fr
Advertisingno
Commercialno
RegistrationOptional
Launched15 January 2018; 8 years ago (2018-01-15)
Current statusactive

Parcoursup is a web portal designed by the French Ministry of Education and the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, which manages admissions to French universities and other higher education institutions and processes the applications of high school graduates. The portal was released in 2018, and 666,000 candidates registered. In 2022, the site received applications from 626,653 students. In 2020, 17,123 undergraduate programmes are offered by Parcoursup.

Copy of French licence's diploma
Copy of French licence's diploma

Parcoursup used to replace a previous Web platform (APB Admission Post-Bac, launched in 2009), which substituted itself to the old system of random drawing between students to implement an examination of each student file. However, Parcoursup has been criticised for creating anxiety among students, and being opaque because each university uses its own criteria to decide which students will be admitted. It has also been blamed for the amount of work it generates within universities. Parcoursup allows students to make from 1 to 10 wishes with as many as 20 subwishes for each of them. Hence, undergraduate programs receive far more applications than they used to and some universities can have to consider more than 100,000 student files.

This has led to tensions within French universities, and contributed to a controversy between left- and right-wing parties. In April 2024, the high administrative court examined two texts, a decree and an order, which modified the terms of application on the platform and a certain number of quotas for non-European students; these measures have been deemed discriminatory and xenophobic by student organizations.

References

  1. ↑ "Parcoursup : bilan des inscriptions au 13 mars" [Parcoursup: registration update as of March 13]. Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation (in French). Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  2. ↑ Pierre Boulet (May 2022). MESRI-SIES / Systèmes d’information et études statistiques (ed.). "PARCOURSUP 2022 - Les vœux des lycéens à l'entrée dans l'enseignement supérieur" [PARCOURSUP 2022 – High school students' choices for entry into higher education] (PDF). Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation. ISSN 2108-4033. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  3. ↑ "Parcoursup 2020 : une procédure efficace et un bilan positif malgré la crise de Covid-19" [Parcoursup 2020: an effective process and positive results despite the Covid-19 crisis]. enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  4. ↑ Piquemal, Marie (15 March 2018). "Parcoursup : "Beaucoup de gamins se découragent et renoncent à la fac"" [Parcoursup: "A lot of kids get discouraged and give up on university."]. Libération.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "Parcoursup, l'année zéro" [Parcoursup: Year Zero]. Libération.fr. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  6. ↑ Princet, Sonia (3 April 2019). "Comment fonctionne le nouvel algorithme de Parcoursup (et quelles questions pose-t-il) ?" [How does the new Parcoursup algorithm work (and what questions does it raise)?] (in French). France Inter. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  7. ↑ Bordas, Wally; Legout, Baptiste (19 February 2020). "Le classement des universités les plus demandées sur Parcoursup" [Ranking of the most sought-after universities on Parcoursup]. Le Figaro Etudiant (in French). Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  8. ↑ Taillandier, Laura (3 April 2018). "Mobilisation contre Parcoursup : 'Ce qui a réveillé les étudiants, c'est l'agression à Montpellier'" [Protests against Parcoursup: 'What woke students up was the attack in Montpellier']. L'Etudiant (in French). Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  9. ↑ Dréan, Minh (8 April 2024). "Parcoursup 2024 : deux organisations étudiantes saisissent le Conseil d'Etat contre un décret limitant les candidatures des étudiants étrangers" [Parcoursup 2024: two student organizations challenge a decree limiting applications from foreign students before the Council of State.]. www.lemonde.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 8 April 2024. Retrieved 9 April 2024.