France Universités, the CDEFM, the Cdefi, and the CGE say no to the National Rally for Universities and Schools

The first round results of the early general elections on Sunday, June 30, show a real risk of the Rassemblement National (the extreme right party) winning a large majority in the French National Assembly on the evening of the second round (July 7).

This threat is immediate, real and unprecedented. This is not an ordinary democratic alternation. It must be met with gravity and determination. Universal and humanist values, such as openness to others, tolerance, intellectual curiosity and critical thinking, are indeed at risk.

The policy pursued by the Rassemblement National is not only based on principles of exclusion and withdrawal, but also on fear and rejection of the other: it jeopardizes our higher education system and the positive life opportunities it offers to our youth, regardless of background, origins or social environment. It hinders our ability to welcome foreign students, some of whom will become doctoral candidates and, in the future, contribute to the influence of French science around the world. It threatens the independence of the public service, of higher education as a whole, as well as the autonomy of its research and the academic and pedagogical freedom of those who train our youth and contribute to the country’s development, in each of our territories.

It’s furthermore another vision of Europe that we do not want, one in which European universities will be disregarded, one in which student mobility, bolstered by the ever so popular Erasmus program, is in danger.

This warning goes beyond higher education and research establishments. Our aim is not to protect corporate interests, but to defend the values of the Republic.

Embracing the Rassemblement National’s political project would equate to betraying these values and the spirit of the Enlightenment, the very foundation of the University and our schools.

 

France Universités (French Rectors’ Conference)

Conference of Directors of French Management Schools (Conférences des directeurs des écoles françaises de management – CDEFM)

Conference of Directors of Engineering Schools (Conférence des directeurs des écoles d’ingénieurs – Cdefi)

Conference of Grandes Ecoles (Conférence des grandes écoles – CGE)