There were not many large French higher education centers to broadcast the 2025 ranking of Higher education times (TEA) presented on October 9. And for good reason, the TEA talked about performance “relatively weak” French universities. If fifty French establishments appear in the 2025 edition, compared to 44 the previous year, a dozen of them have reached their “worst performance” never recorded. In the top 100, which includes four French establishments, the Paris University of Sciences and Letters fell two places to 42nd place.my position while the University of Paris-Saclay falls six places and stands at 64my. Others, such as the Ecole des ponts ParisTech or Sciences Po Paris, are also losing ground.
For Jeanick Brisswalter, rector of the University of the Côte d’Azur, the explanations for this year’s results are mainly due to an exogenous factor. “Many more universities have qualified. Therefore, today the international competition in these classifications is greater. » The 2025 edition identified 185 more establishments than the 2024 edition, raising its total number to 2,092.
The fact is that if the French higher education sector has improved its overall score compared to the previous year, “The quality of research in the sector is declining compared to the world. [et les coupes budgétaires] They do not bode well for the future.considered TEA, with special reference to the budget cuts of 904 million euros decided by decree in February.
From September 2023, the methodology of TEA has changed: it now includes 18 performance indicators, compared to 13 in previous years. The score is structured around three main axes: the quality of the research, teaching and the research environment. Contacted by phone, the TEA makes a less alarming observation than the one initially presented: “French performances have many more nuances, explains Ellie Bothwell, editor of TEA. We see a slight decline in two indicators (citation impact and research strength) that measure research quality. I think these are signs to pay attention to. But when it comes to the overall score, French universities improve when the raw data is analyzed. »
“A historical minimum in state investment”
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