By Charlotte Huguerre
Published on 1 Mar 21 to 7:56
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Tired, annoyed, disappointed, on the brink of the abyss for some … The distress of the students is no longer to prove in this period of health crisis. Among them, the new arrivals in medical studies seem to undergo a double sentence : already reputed to be trying, the first year of medicine applies a new reform this year, considered unequal by many. In Lille (North), students and groups warn about the problems it generates.
Two courses replace the Paces
The reform has been planned since July 24, 2019, by the law on the organization of the health system. A reform supposed to lower the failure rate for entering the second year of medicine and diversify the profiles of our future doctors. So no more Paces (first year common to health studies), but now two courses: the Pass (specific health access course) and the Las (health access license).
For this diversification of profiles, the Pass consists of a supposedly light program of Paces courses, with an opening or “minor” teaching unit, in a more traditional field, such as law, psychology or languages … Conversely, Las is a classic license, with a “minor” health.
After this first year, students will take a competitive examination to join an MMOPK course (Medicine, Maieutics, Odontology, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy). Already very selective, the reform has now eliminated repetition. In the event of failure, the Pass and Las will not start their year over again, but they may be offered a second chance. Passes that have still validated their year will be redirected to Las 2 of their “minor” and can take a health access competition. For those who have neither the competition nor validated their year, return to Parcoursup, to reorient themselves towards a classic license. In the event of a second failure in the entrance examination, the student will be able to continue his license.
A problem of equity between Pass and Las?
“The first problem is there,” says Alice, from the Pass / Las Lille collective. Without wanting to put them in competition or denigrate one course more than the other, we have the impression that a Pass will have more difficulty entering the second year than a Las. Doing four days of medicine a week and one day of Spanish, for example, has nothing to do with the workload than doing four days of Spanish and one of medicine. And the Las who will have their competition may suffer in the second year. “
A problem spun by inequalities in the treatment of minors in Pass. A student, who wishes to remain anonymous, testifies: “I was taken in Pass minor right. Except that law is not at all what I want to do… In addition, unlike other EU, I have never had face-to-face lessons. Everything was at a distance and, before our partial, we just had tons of handouts to learn by heart. In addition to medical lessons, it is impossible. “
Pierre was able to obtain a minor Staps (Sciences and techniques of physical and sports activities). ” I’m lucky. I would like to do physiotherapy and Staps is a minor that suits me perfectly. Unlike others, I know that the workload is less heavy and I like it! But, with my friends, we have the impression that the Las are more advantaged. One more day of class means one less review day. “
A problem of equity that completely denies the dean of the University of Lille 2, Dominique Lacroix. “We have been working on it for months, for a fair reform. Parents and students got it into their heads that there was a royal route, the Pass, and a lesser route, the Las. We worked so that the students of the two courses have the same percentage of success: 24%. “
But for him, certain equality problems do exist. “I am well aware of the inequalities between the minors. We will ensure that the marks for minors are standardized, we do not want the opening UEs to be penalizing for our students, on the contrary it should be valued! This is the whole point of this reform. Thanks to his minor, a student who fails the exams will not have lost working time, his year will be recognized. The old system was a crushing machine: once the contest had failed twice, nothing. The student found himself with nothing, without recognition, while he was working hard. “
No more numerus clausus… But not the repeaters Paces
The problem of the number of places is at the heart of the reform… supposed to increase the number of clausus (fixed number of places). From now on, it is an apertus numerus, which can vary from one university to another. And another problem arises for this first year: repeating the Paces. These students repeating their first year (2019/2020), are added to the already numerous students in Pass / Las. “Obviously, it is not their fault, explains Laurence, member of the Lille collective. But one has the impression that the reform is poorly prepared. It is as if they were stealing the places of the 2020/2021 primants. “
Of the 2,235 Lille students (1,473 in Pass and 762 in Las), 569 places are available for the second year in MMOPK. “The repeat Paces will have 275 places. Obviously, that’s less for the first class. The problem will no longer exist next year, because there will be no more Paces, but in the meantime, it is our children who toil. “
A problem common to all universities, even if Lille seems to stand out. “We had directives from the ministry,” explains Dominique Lacroix. By college, they took the historical success rates over the last three years of repeaters Paces to calculate the number of places, ensuring that, arithmetically, a repeaters in 2021 has the same probability of success. The ministry asked us to remove from our traditional 907 award-winning students 535 places, lowering the number to 372. We did what we could and we managed to increase it to 569, increasing on average by more than 100 students specials. We have inflated our capacities to the extreme, after that we cannot push the walls of the university to infinity! “
Lille rather well
Unlike other French faculties, Lille has allowed some of its students to take part in face-to-face lessons. “It gave us a lot of motivation,” admits Pierre. On that, they did their best, that’s really good. “
Although re-motivated by this announcement, some students and parents in Lille do not understand others. “After the exams for the first semester,” Alice continues, “instead of having a first classification with their marks, they were all classified into categories, going from A to E.” Each category has around 300 students. “It means everything and nothing, an angry student. I’m in category C, but suddenly I don’t know if it’s worth it if I work more or not, if I still have a chance to have the competition. “
Just like the announcement of eligibility oral exams, supposed to decide between the Passes that have validated their year but narrowly missed the competition. On this point, the dean replied: “Some students may be eligible, ie they will have to take oral exams to have a chance to go to MMOPK. It is a desire on our part to remain vague for the moment, to prevent fraudulent prepa from taking advantage of our students. »Private prepas, supposed to help students prepare students for competitions, for large sums of money.
“We cut the rug out from under them. Eligible students will be notified and prepared in a timely manner. All I can say for the moment is that there will be four oral exams in a row, over a total duration of one hour, calling for example skills of scientific rigor, argumentation, synthesis… ”
From a national point of view, the Pass / Las collective will soon meet two deputies, Benoit Potterie, from Pas-de-Calais and Valérie Bazin-Malgras, from dawn. Both have been charged with a “flash mission” by the National Assembly, in order to address the reform and the problems it raises.
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