“Apprenticeship began to develop in the mid-1990s,” underlines Virginie Dupont, vice-president of France Universités and president of Bretagne Sud University.
The training offer, originally geared more towards BTS and IUTs, has continued to expand since then, particularly due to the most recent universities.
“They were born with already more marked ambitions for the immediate professional integration of their students,” specifies the specialist.
A turning point took place in 2018 with the law for the freedom to choose one's professional future.
“It has liberalized and energized learning,” confirms the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
All disciplines got involved.
Some of which we say are easy, such as economic sciences or management, as well as others which seem more distant, such as the human and social sciences.
There is not a master's director who does not question today the opening of their training to apprenticeship,” continues Virginie Dupont.
Also read: Apprenticeship at university: “It’s less expensive than a business school and the quality of teaching is almost identical!
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Behind the desire and motivation of these teachers lie a lot of good reasons to get started.
“Public establishments have continued their momentum for several reasons: firstly because it guarantees good professional integration, because learning changes pedagogy, because it is a factor of diversity and social openness and finally because that it strengthens links with the socio-economic world,” the ministry continues.
Place of business at university
A revolution as the university seemed so far from businesses.
“They have been criticized for a long time, but today they are getting closer and closer to it,” notes Virginie Dupont.
Since 2006, the law has required them to include companies in their governance bodies.
They are represented there and the links are stronger, particularly thanks to the alternation.
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“The university is not a factory for training the unemployed”
Virginie Dupont, vice-president of France Universités and president of Bretagne Sud University
Links and networks which were also created depending on the companies present in the region of each training course.
“There is a strong desire to have a strategy that aligns with the economy of its territory.
For example, in Brittany, we will find a very developed training offer around cybersecurity, which we will have less in Charente-Maritime or in the Centre-Val de Loire region", illustrates the vice-president of France Universités and president of the Bretagne Sud University.
And added: “This development of work-study training is also strongly linked to the recruitment needs of companies.
The university is not a factory for training the unemployed, it also trains lawyers, doctors, teachers, magistrates and professionals from other sectors!
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There is a risk, however, that the model will change and that state aid will dry up.
If universities have taken advantage of work-study programs to forge links with the local economic fabric, these must be sustained.
“We must continue, because university training is of very good quality and contributes to improving skills for the benefit of all!
We must not forget that some young people would not have been able to continue their studies if they had not completed an apprenticeship,” asserts Virginie Dupont.