Employability of Vocational Bachelor Graduates in France: Dream or Dust in Eyes?

In France, the vocationalisation of the higher education at the university have resulted in increasing numbers of graduates and created new opportunities. The influx of these vocational Bachelor graduates on the labour market raises the issue of their professional prospects amid changing economic and social circumstances. Of the 737,000 young people leaving education in 2004, nearly 12,300 are vocational Bachelor graduates. The information provided by the Cereq survey highlight that higher education degrees are strongly correlated with labour market entry. This confirms that education and training are one of the most effective means of gaining employment and securing satisfactory working conditions. The employability of Bachelor graduates is undeniable in 2007 and this is a success story, except for the access to executive status. However the question is to know if the selection process at the entry into these vocational courses at the university will support the most modest young people of social origins and lead them an access to an upward social mobility, for the men as much as for the women: Is it a dream or a dust in eyes?