Several French campuses close amid expanding student protests

Several universities in France have closed their campuses after university students joined a nationwide youth protest and blocked access to institutions across the country.

L'Union Etudiante, a prominent left-wing university student group, said it had mounted blockades at 25 campuses according to a “provisional count” as of Friday morning. In an earlier statement, the group said the  blockades were “an expression of young people's anger” against an increase in tuition fees for non-European Union students, poor living conditions, and a shortage of university places that it says has made access to higher education too selective.

Paris Nanterre University said in a statement that it had closed its main campus on Friday after students blocked access in the morning, cancelling all teaching and other activities on the site. Toulouse Jean Jaurès University also closed its Mirail campus.

University of Montpellier Paul Valéry told Times Higher Education that blockades had been mounted at its Route de Mende campus, forcing it to close the site for an "indefinite period", Its other three campuses remain open. 

Students at Montpellier were due to hold a joint general assembly with high school protesters on Friday. The SCUM student union said protesters would continue mobilising next week and were demanding, among other measures, university places for students previously unable to secure admission to undergraduate or master’s programmes and reimbursement of higher tuition fees paid by some non-EU students.

The university blockades are part of a much larger nationwide youth protest started this week in Paris by high school pupils, who are protesting over a teacher shortage, overcrowded classrooms and rundown school buildings. Protestors are demanding more investment in education and improvements in learning conditions. 

The revolt has turned violent, with France 24 reporting that this morning, 2 October, students lit fires outside schools and have faced off against police. About 400 schools have been closed across the country and nearly 2,000 people have been arrested, according to the French interior ministry. 

seher.asaf@timeshighereducation.com