Routes out of tertiary education into the French labour market

The French system of vocational tertiary education includes both university-based and non-university programmes. Whereas non-university courses in France have always been more aligned to practice and are designed to facilitate a direct route into working life, university-based training has also received a vocational focus within the scope of the Bologna Process. The “licence professionelle”, a practice-oriented Bachelor’s degree, is the first higher education qualification to be created in France that links units of theoretical learning with phases of practice spent in the world of work. This article investigates how licence pro graduates succeed in entering the labour market compared to those with other tertiary qualifications, and traces their further destination over an initial seven years.