The Ministers of Education, Elisabeth Borne, and higher education, Philippe Baptiste, who received the president of the Galileo group on Monday, March 10, announced that an inter -ministerial inspection would be commissioned “For greater transparency in the functioning of private for -profit education institutions”.
Galileo Global Education, which presents itself as the leading world independent higher education group with more than 200,000 students around the world, is at the heart of a journalistic survey that describes drifts, with a system to maximize yields.
Elisabeth Borne and Philippe Baptiste also reported working with the Minister of Labor, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, on a “Strengthening of the Qualiopi system which conditions the obtaining of learning funding”. This qualiopi label, which attests to the quality of the services, “Will thus be in its future version, more demanding with regard to the criteria for assessing the quality of training”they continue in a press release.
“Serious allegations”
Philippe Baptiste had specified In an interview with the newspaper Les Echos that the objective was “May this reinforced label be in place in early 2026”.
Galileo, which brings together around half of its sites in France, holds schools like the Cours Florent en Théâtre, EM Lyon for trade or Penninghen art school.
Based on some 150 testimonies and exclusive documents, the book The cube From Claire Marchal, published on Wednesday, challenges the operation of this group, with very high registration fees, reduction in teachers’ wages and the volume of courses, and sometimes sprains in the safety of students, packed in overloaded classes.
The president of Galileo Global Education, Marc-François Mignot Mahon, had been summoned to “Coming to the ministry explain” on “The serious allegations which is the subject of the group he directs”said Philippe Baptiste to the France-Presse agency on Thursday.
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The book comes out while two law proposals have been submitted to better supervise the private private education sector, one of the PS deputy Emmanuel Grégoire and the other of the deputy Jean Laussucq (ensemble for the Republic). Ministers “Are very attentive to the two law proposals”Who “Go in the right direction and will soon be the subject of exchanges between their authors and the ministers”according to the press release.
“Le Cube”, by Claire Marchal: an investigation into the “student factories” of the Galileo group
It is the story of two worlds that should never have met: on the one hand, higher education schools; on the other, investment funds. In 2011, the bases of an empire were laid when the American Fund Providence Equity Partners acquired the Ititian Marangoni Italian fashion school and founded the Holding Galileo Global Education. Fifteen years later, the group – which was sold in 2020 to other investment funds for an amount of 2.3 billion euros – has 61 schools, 106 campuses in 18 countries and 210,000 students on the planet. This is only the beginning: Galileo aims to reach a million students in the next five years.
It took two years to the Clear Marchal documentary maker to understand the springs of a real financial machine that the French State contributes to oil in favor of aid for learning and continuing education. In The cube (Flammarion, 384 pages, 22 euros), the author, who relies on hundreds of interviews and some 900 confidential documents, describes the obsession of Galileo managers to increase the workforce of their schools, reduce their costs, optimize their yields. Martingale has a name, “Le Cube”, the group’s customer management software, a “Infallible computer tool, designed to manage the statistics necessary for the satisfaction of its thirst for profitability”.
At each school acquisition, Galileo makes heavy modifications in the management of human resources, in pedagogy and in accounting methods. It is then enough for a few years to destroy from the inside of pretty brands known to the general public like Penninghen, Bellecour, Stratute, Le Cours Florent…
Turned into “Student factories”these establishments generate a huge breakage. Internally, the teams must comply with the only rule there is, that of profitability. In classrooms, far too full, disarray invades young people who sometimes do not have a chair to sit or who are incessant lessons. All while paying between 5,000 and 10,000 euros per year.
Responsibility of the public authorities
The violent contrast between “The distress of many students and the exponential omnipotence of Galileo” is the common thread of Claire Marchal which ends up questioning the responsibility of the public authorities. Because lucrative private higher education “Is fed by the state of the state” Since the law of September 5, 2018 for the freedom to choose your professional future: “They advance hand in hand, work together, from ministerial cabinets to the boards of directors, from the high public service to the management of the groups. »»
Around the president of the holding company, Marc-François Mignot Mahon, gravitate Muriel Pénicaud, former Minister of Labor of the Governments of Edouard Philippe (2017-2020) and member of the board of directors, Guillaume Pepy, former boss of the SNCF and chairman of the supervisory board of EM Lyon Business School of which Galileo is a shareholder, or even, until July 2024, the former boss of AP-HP Martin Hirsch, who was vice-president of the multinational.
Claire Marchal is missing a piece to the puzzle: despite his reminders, no member of the Holder’s management has answered his questions. The groups of the group’s schools have also remained silent. Only Olivier Aptel, who has been running since the start of the 2024 school year in Paris School of Business, has shown some courage by declaring being “Sensitive to expressed feedback [par les étudiants]in particular with regard to teaching conditions and administrative organization ”.