After Parcoursup, the AI that would guide high schoolers is still just an idea

On Saturday, October 24, between 110,000 and 250,000 people marched, according to estimates cited by Apel, the association of parents of Catholic school students. On Monday, October 26, after five weeks of high school blockades, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, flanked by ministers Édouard Geffray (National Education) and Philippe Baptiste (Higher Education), announced that Parcoursup, France's national university admissions platform, will be replaced. In several headlines, one phrase stood out: an AI would take over.

The reality is more cautious. According to L'Express Éducation, the future system would include a guidance tool based on artificial intelligence, fed by the results of previous admissions campaigns, with support starting in the second year of high school (seconde). Apel, which is taking part in the consultation, describes the tool as one idea "mentioned" among others, alongside giving students access to the platform from seconde. Franceinfo, for its part, does not mention any AI in its summary of the measures.

What has actually been decided?

The most concrete measures have nothing to do with AI. For the 2027 session, which will still use Parcoursup, programs will have to justify why they ask for a cover letter and explain their rejections. The government calls this a "right to an explanation." Franceinfo reports that listing the applicant's high school is "bound to disappear," with the minister promising to move toward removing it "as early as the 2028 session," and that programs that sort applicants using "automated processing" will have to explain their criteria.

For Parcoursup's successor, a reform committee made up of students, teachers and ministers is due to deliver its final decisions by the end of November. And because the platform is governed by law, overhauling it will require Parliament's approval. According to L'Express Éducation, a bill is due to be presented to the Council of Ministers this winter, but Philippe Baptiste acknowledged that its adoption before the end of the current presidential term remained uncertain.

The questions raised by AI-based guidance

None of the sources consulted says which model would be used, who would build it, where students' data would be hosted or how its suggestions would be monitored. These are not minor details. A tool trained on past results risks repeating yesterday's choices: if certain profiles have rarely been admitted to a program, it could steer them away from it. The European AI Act, for its part, classifies as "high-risk" systems those that determine access, admission or assignment of people to educational institutions, or that assess the level of education they will be able to access, with obligations covering documentation, human oversight and data quality.

The government is taking a close interest in these tools: the State's HR directorate recently estimated that one in five public employees holds a job exposed to AI. But guiding nearly a million young people who use Parcoursup is not a project like any other.

What to watch

Student organizations are not backing down. Louis Letoublon, vice president of the student group Les Lycéens !, quoted by L'Express Éducation, warns that "not everything has been satisfied yet" and announces two days of protest, on October 31 and November 5. The key date remains the end of November, when the reform committee will say whether the AI tool goes beyond the stage of a promise.