The French government has organised a debate at national level over the link between higher education and employment. To this end, a commission composed of 15 members from higher education institutions, personnel associations and enterprises has been set up under the supervision of the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research.

The themes that will be tackled during the debate will be the following:

• Orientation, information and professional insertion;
• professionalisation of studies within the framework of the Bachelor-Master-PhD structure,
• development of alternance (the alternating between a period of tuition with one of training/stage).

The commission’s task during the first phase of the national debate will be to have talks with stakeholders in the field of higher education, enterprises, student organisations, and personnel associations. An interim report will be produced by mid-June 2006, while the final report is scheduled to be ready by October 2006.