Opening of the Parcoursup website: more accessible information
The French higher education ministry has just announced the opening of the Parcoursup.fr website including new features to streamline information. Candidates may now discover the training offer for the start of year 2023 and find all information to help them in their academic guidance project, before entering their choices on the platform starting on 18 January.
The Parcoursup guidance scheme is available for any young French who wants to study in the higher education system and to foreign candidates concerned by the registration process.
Clear, enriched and transparent information
This year, the Parcoursup website has been revamped to offer “clearer, richer and more transparent” information fully placed at the service of candidates’ guidance.
Indeed, to answer the expectations of young people and their families, the search engine and the training course sheets of Parcoursup were deeply modified.
As the ministry says, changes aim at three precise objectives:
- Clearer information: thanks to improvements brought to the website, candidates will now find critical information more easily. Information regarding the status of the institution (public/private), the nature of the training (selective/non selective), and tuition fees will now be more accessible;
- Enriched information: to better anticipate the construction of their projects, candidates will this year discover various important points, such as the profile of candidates ranked the previous year or the number of requests registered to access specific information;
- More transparent information: a new section, Understanding analysis criteria of applications, will help candidates understand in a clear and detailed way what are the criteria used by institutions to accept (or reject) applications submitted.
Tutorials, live sessions and social medias
Because the use of the platform may sometimes be difficult, the website offers this year a new feature, the first tutorial-videos. They are now available to all users of the Parcoursup.fr platform to better explain the agenda and how the platform works.
In addition, many live sessions and chat sessions are already planned to answer the precise questions of candidates. Besides, as soon as 18 January, help will be available to users using the call number 0 800 400 070 or the messaging service of the Parcoursup file, and also using the Parcoursup social medias.
To be noted: the ministry explains that advice provided by the training courses themselves about recommended courses to access the training plan and the best way to complete an application dossier will be clearly visible on the website.
And as the platform concludes that on 18 January, candidates will have the opportunity to enter their choices among 21,000 training courses recognised by the French government and all accessible on Parcoursup.
Additional improvements to come
“Making the process more predictable” and “Reducing the surprise effect that is a factor of stress for many high school students and their families”, is the new ambition of the Parcoursup website, which this year continued what it calls its “continous improvement” to bring the most useful information to users, including in terms of professional integration.
Indeed, says the ministry, in the years to come, “the scope of training for which information about professional integration will be completed will be gradually broaden”. It’s worth noting that it is now accessible only for the BTS training courses. This is a major change to implement, since it will help young people better find their way and “better understand the jobs of the future, jobs that are recruiting” and, as such, “identify more easily the information that will facilitate their professional integration”.
Who is concerned by Parcoursup?
Requirements to register to the French higher education system differ depending on your nationality, country of residence, secondary school graduation, and level and type of studies under consideration. To know if you are elegible to Parcoursup:
- Check out our how to apply to a higher education institution section
- Check out the processes to follow on the website of the ministry of higher education and research
- Contact the Campus France Offices in your country of residence