Several hundred people demonstrated, Tuesday, March 11, in Paris against austerity in higher education, at the call of a large inter -union. “We were 2,500 in Paris, more than 1,000 in Rennes and 500 Toulouse, largely beyond 5,000 people mobilized in France”estimated the secretary general of SNESUP-FSU, Anne Roger, interviewed by the Agency France-Presse (AFP).
Students and teachers, representatives of the main unions (SNESUP, CFDT, CGT, UNSA, SUD), student organizations (Student Union, FAGE, UNEF) or the FECPE Parents Federation met at the Sorbonne at the time when a meeting of the National Council for Higher Education and Research was held (CNEser), an advisory body that issues reviews on university policies. The demonstrators then surveyed Boulevard Saint-Michel to the Garden of Luxembourg.
On the signs, you could read “413 billion for the army, nothing to study”,, “Removal of sectors, ESR strike [enseignement supérieur et recherche] »».
“Lessons that go into tatters”
“We await an awareness of the whole of the French population, but especially of our politicians, on the situation of higher education and research, in particular with regard to the budget allocated for several years and largely insufficient”explained to AFP Caroline Mauriat, general cosecretary of SNESUP-FSU, main superior union. “The last two years have been dramatic, and bring us into the wall, namely universities in deficit, which will be forced to make choices” painful by reducing reception capacities or by closing training.
In total, taking into account contributions to state pensions, payment credits for the higher education budget reached 30.9 billion euros in 2025, against 31.8 billion euros in 2024. “We ask 8 billion this year (…) To finance research “ or renovate often dilapidated buildings, added Mme Maurit.
Isabel Boni-le Goff, lecturer in Paris-VIII in sociology, thus described “Lessons that go into tatters”. Matar, a student in the fourth year of philosophy, protests against study conditions: “In theaters, there is no more room to sit down. As the contracts are not renewed, teachers are lacking and some managers of tutorials are crumbling under work. Suddenly, there are a lot of sick leave. »»
“It is well missing 80,000 to 90,000 university places”estimated Manon Moret, member of the National Bureau of the UNEF, at a student intersyndicale press conference in Paris before the start of the demonstration. In addition to the UNEF, representatives of the ESF, the student union, and the student solidarity, stressed that they wanted to act together to fight against “The catastrophic situation of the university”.