16 Jun 2026
“Parliament’s examination of the government’s bill aimed at better regulating for-profit private higher education addresses a genuine need: curbing certain abuses. This opportunity for clarification reflects a commitment to protecting students and ensuring quality standards in French higher education.
This regulation is necessary. But it must avoid a persistent confusion: the tendency to treat all private higher education as a single, homogeneous bloc — because not all private institutions operate according to the same logic.
On one side, some are driven by profitability objectives. On the other, the 64 institutions accredited as Établissements d’enseignement supérieur privé d’intérêt général (Eespig — Private Higher Education Institutions Serving the Public Interest) fulfil a mission recognised by the State: educating, supporting and helping students into employment on a non-profit basis. The Institut Catholique d’Arts et Métiers (Icam), a general engineering school, is one of them.
An established legal framework, backed by a network of associations
The Eespig accreditation was not our invention. It was introduced by the Act of 22 July 2013 on Higher Education and Research.
It is awarded by the Ministry of Higher Education, following the advice of the National Council for Higher Education and Research, on the basis of a multi-year agreement with the State and a set of requirements as demanding as those applicable to public institutions.
Behind this recognition lies a collective history. The Fédération des établissements d’enseignement supérieur d’intérêt collectif (Fesic), founded in 1969, was one of the driving voices behind the creation of this label in 2013. It now brings together 31 leading engineering, management, arts and humanities schools, the vast majority of which hold the Eespig accreditation.
Fesic does not award the accreditation — that is the State’s role — but it federates, represents and gives life to this model on a daily basis.
The Eespig model rests on a simple conviction: higher education must first and foremost serve the public interest. No shareholders to remunerate, no dividends to distribute. And a purpose closely aligned with that of public higher education, through a contract with the State. Every euro is reinvested in teaching, research, pedagogical innovation and student support.
A strategic industrial issue
This model is far from marginal: Eespig institutions welcome more than 180,000 students across France. They award State-recognised qualifications, enrol grant-aided students and contribute to social diversity.
They also represent an economically sound model. According to Fesic, training a student in this type of institution costs public finances more than €11,000 less per year than training a student in the public sector.
But the stakes go beyond budgetary matters. In engineering schools, we are developing the skills France already lacks: engineers who are aware of and equipped to navigate ecological, social and digital transitions; generalist engineers focused on industry; men and women committed to serving society and the economy.
At a time when the country is talking about reindustrialisation, technological sovereignty and ecological transition, these talents are becoming strategic. It is not just about training engineers — it is about training them well, through high-quality programmes. France will not be able to reindustrialise without training significantly more scientific and technical profiles.
Giving families the visibility they need
For this to work, families must be able to clearly identify institutions that operate in the public interest. Parcoursup does not highlight this accreditation, even though it is a decisive factor: no dedicated filter, no systematic information sheet, a distinctive logo but no explanation of what it means.
Institutional communications — whether from the Ministry, regional education authorities or careers fairs — rarely mention the label. The result: only 15% of secondary school students and 12% of parents are aware of the Eespig accreditation when making their choices on Parcoursup.
Hundreds of thousands of families are navigating blind, with no reliable benchmark to distinguish public interest actors from for-profit operators. Making the Eespig label systematically visible on Parcoursup and raising awareness of it through a dedicated campaign is the prerequisite for enabling students and their families to make a truly informed choice.
The current parliamentary debate offers an opportunity to clarify the landscape durably: putting a stop to abuses where they exist, while fully recognising the institutions that contribute to a public interest mission.
Between public universities and for-profit private education, France already has a model for the future. It is time to give it the visibility and recognition it deserves.”
Gilles Vandecaveye, Director General of Icam and member of FESIC
