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Reform of the PACES - the students of medicine fear "of being a sacrificed generation"

Aug 5, 2021, 21:01 PM
Since the start of the September academic year, the reform of the PACES has applied to all French universities. The major challenge: to abolish the numerus clausus applied until then. The number of students who can access the second year is now set by the universities themselves according to their capacity. The process is modified, but the principle of selection after the first year remains valid.
Title : Reform of the PACES - the students of medicine fear "of being a sacrificed generation"
Source : France3
External URL : https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/corse/haute-corse/corte/corte-avec-la-reforme-de-la-paces-les-etudiants-en-1ere-annee-de-medecine-craignent-d-etre-une-generation-sacrifiee-1930000.html

The original article requires translation. 

Since the start of the September academic year, the reform of the PACES has applied to all French universities. The major challenge: to abolish the numerus clausus applied until then.

The number of students who can access the second year is now set by the universities themselves according to their capacity. The process is modified, but the principle of selection after the first year remains valid.

The consequences of the 2020 reform

However, the 2020/2021 academic year is atypical since it is the one of the switch between old and new system. In Corte, the 184 new enrolled in PASS (Specific Health Access Path) coexist with 84 repeaters in PACES (First year common to health studies).

And it is precisely the distribution of places in the second year between these two entities that poses a problem. As it stands, eight places are reserved for the PASS against forty-three for the PACES.

A collective of medical students and the student union Ghjuventù Paolina held a press conference in front of the University of Corte to alert on the situation.

For Manon Luciani, a PASS student, there is " a real lack of equity " between first-time and repeaters. " We have a one in twenty chance of entering the second year while the PACES have a one in two chance ".

Like fifty others in her class, she participated this Thursday, January 28, in a mobilization on campus. A movement that has received a lot of support from the political world, such as that of Gilles Simeoni, the president of the executive council of Corsica. 

The nationalist deputy of the 2nd constituency of Corse-du-Sud, Paul-André Colombani, also positioned himself in favor of the demands of the students. On this occasion, he wrote a letter for the attention of the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Frédérique Vidal.

Thus, for the deputy, " such an imbalance appears unfair and calls for a readjustment [...] so as not to confront these students with an exceptionally low success rate, which is more in a particular region affected by medical desertification ".

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